A proposal by the Trump administration that U.S. mines provide a quarter of the nation's uranium could put many domestic nuclear power plants out of business, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The administration is currently considering the proposal put forward by the U.S. Commerce Department out of security concerns, U.S. News and World Report reported. However, critics note that a substantial amount of the uranium used in the U.S. is supplied by Canada and Australia.

NEI is sounding the alarm on the quota, saying the move would drive up uranium prices and likely shutter some of the 98 reactors across the nation's 60 nuclear power plants.

"A typical single-unit nuclear plant employs between 500 and 700 workers in jobs that pay, on average, 36 percent above the prevailing local wage rate," NEI said in a statement originally published in POLITICO Pro. "To put that in perspective, the closure of one plant would lead to a loss of more jobs than in the entire U.S. uranium mining industry."

The administration has yet to make a decision on the quota. http://bit.ly/2WQrQBl

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