Centrus Energy Corp. announced that it has successfully completed its operational readiness reviews with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and received NRC approval to possess uranium at the Piketon, Ohio site and introduce uranium into the cascade of centrifuges Centrus has constructed. This is a critical milestone in advancing toward production of High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) and means that Centrus remains on track to begin production by the end of 2023.

Centrus began construction of a cascade of centrifuges in 2019 under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2022, Centrus secured a competitively-awarded follow-on contract to finish construction, complete final regulatory steps, bring the cascade into operation, and produce HALEU for the Department's use. The operational readiness reviews were required under Centrus' NRC license, which was successfully amended in 2021 to make the Piketon site the only NRC- licensed HALEU production facility.

Construction of the cascade and most of the support systems is now complete, and Centrus has also finished initial testing of these systems. The next steps are for Centrus to complete construction of the on-site HALEU storage area and conduct final testing activities prior to operation, with initial HALEU production set to begin by the end of the year. HALEU is an advanced nuclear fuel required for most of the next-generation reactor designs currently under development. Nine of the ten advanced reactor designs selected for funding under the Department of Energy's Advanced reactor Demonstration Program, including the two demonstration reactors, will rely on HALEU, as will the first non-light water reactor to enter licensing review by the NRC.

Separate from the operations contract, Centrus is investigating the possibility to scale up the Piketon facility with additional centrifuge cascades for expanded HALEU production -- provided that sufficient funding or offtake contracts can be secured.