Centrus Energy announced that it has begun enrichment operations at its High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) facility in Piketon, Ohio, and expects to begin withdrawing HALEU product later this month. It is the only NRC-licensed HALEU facility in the United States and the first new U.S.-owned, U.S.-technology uranium enrichment plant to begin production since 1954. HALEU is an advanced nuclear fuel required for most of the next-generation reactor designs currently under development.

The capacity of the 16-centrifuge cascade is modest ? about 900 kilograms of HALEU per year ? but with sufficient funding and offtake commitments, Centrus could significantly expand production.

A full-scale HALEU cascade, consisting of 120 centrifuge machines, with a combined capacity to produce approximately 6,000 kilograms of HALEU per year (6 MTU/year), could be producing HALEU 42 months after securing the necessary funding. With appropriate support, Centrus could add a second HALEU cascade six months later and subsequent cascades every two months after that. That would mobilize hundreds of union workers in Ohio to build and operate the plant and support thousands of direct and indirect jobs across a nationwide manufacturing supply chain.

The Piketon facility has ample space for the thousands of machines that will be needed to meet the growing demand for enriched uranium in the decades to come.