Thursday November 21, 2024

An expansion of this magnitude would require billions of dollars of public and private investment, the company said. It recently secured more than $2 billion in conditional purchase commitments from customers to support future low-enriched uranium (LEU) production, as well as two contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support the enrichment and deconversion of highly enriched uranium. assay, low enriched uranium (HALEU) – uranium enriched to contain between 5% and 20% uranium 235 which will be used by many advanced reactors.

Centrus Chairman and CEO Amir Vexler said this latest investment “will jump-start what we hope will be a multibillion-dollar public and private commitment to restore America’s large-scale uranium enrichment capacity.” while reducing our dependence on foreign countries.

“The all-American solution we are proposing represents the best path forward to ensure a reliable supply of fuel for today’s reactors, support the deployment of next-generation reactors, and meet America’s enduring national security needs regarding enriched uranium. position to execute expansion quickly,” he said.

“We have always said that restoring America’s enrichment capacity at scale requires a public-private partnership, including robust federal investment as well as customer drawdown commitments and private capital. This additional investment from Centrus reflects our continued desire to intervene in such a context. partnership.”

Centrus’ American Centrifuge technology is manufactured exclusively at its Oak Ridge technology and manufacturing center, supported by a national supply chain consisting of 14 major suppliers and dozens of smaller suppliers.

In recent years, the United States has relied on imported materials rather than its domestic uranium enrichment capacity: currently, the only commercial uranium enrichment capacity operating in the United States is Urenco USA (UUSA) plant in Eunice, New Mexico, which uses a European centrifuge design that is exclusively manufactured in the Netherlands and is currently being expanded. The French company Orano also plans to build a new centrifugal uranium enrichment facility, for which it has chosen a prime site in Oak Ridge.

But the American administration has taken steps to reduce its dependence on foreign suppliers, in particular Russia, on which the United States counted for a significant part of its enriched uranium needs: 27% of nuclear services. Uranium enrichment purchased by US nuclear power plant operators came from Russia, more than any other foreign supplier.

A ban on Russian imports of LEU has been in effect since August. Centrus had been granted a waiver allowing it to import low-enriched uranium from Russia for delivery to U.S. customers in 2024 and 2025, but the Russian government has now imposed its own ban on LEU exports to the United States. United. Russian state-owned Tenex – Centrus’ largest supplier of UFE to its U.S. and international customers – said it would apply for export licenses needed to meet its obligations, but Centrus said in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that its ability to meet its own delivery obligations will be affected if Tenex cannot obtain the licenses.

Centrus is competing to secure more than $3.4 billion in DOE funding to jumpstart domestic nuclear fuel production. In addition to the recent award of $2 million for domestic production of HALEU, the company, through its US subsidiary Centrifuge Operating, is one of several companies selected in a separate tender for the deconversion of HALEU. A third call for tenders, targeting American production of LEU for existing reactors, has not yet been awarded.