[en] The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has established a programme to develop innovative liquid metal reactor (LMR) designs to assist in developing future U.S. reactor strategy. The paper describes studies in progress to examine various fuel cycle strategies that relate to the reactor strategy. Three potential fuel cycle options that focus on supporting an initial 1300 MW(e) reactor station have been defined: (1) Completion and utilization of the Breeder Reprocessing Engineering Test/Secure Automated Fabrication (BRET/SAF) in the Fuels and Materials Examination Facility (FMEF) at Hanford, Washington; (2) a co-located fuel cycle facility; and (3) delayed closure of the fuel cycle for five to ten years. The BRET, designed as a development facility, has sufficient capacity to service the needs of an initial module at an LMR station. It appears feasible to increase this capacity and to utilize SAF in the FMEF to accommodate the projected output (up to 35 MtHM/year) from the 1300 MW(e) liquid-metal concepts under study. Plans developed within the United States Consolidated Management Office for an initial reactor project have envisioned that cost savings could be realized by delaying the closure of the fuel cycle as long as supplies of plutonium could be obtained relatively inexpensively. This might prove to be only five to ten years, but even that period might be long enough for the fuel cycle costs to be spread over more than one reactor rather than loaded on the initial project. This concept is being explored as is the question of the future coupling of a light water reactor reprocessing industry for plutonium supply to breeder recycle