Project motivated by long-term demand forecasts
Urenco, the Anglo-German-Dutch provider of uranium enrichment services, has approved an investment aimed at expanding the production capacity of its existing plant in Almelo, the Netherlands.
The company said in a statement that the project involves the addition of multiple new centrifuge cascades at the enrichment facility.
Urenco said the expansion is projected to boost the annual capacity at Almelo by 15%, or about 750 tonnes of SWU (separative work units). The new cascades are expected to become operational by around 2027.
According to Urenco, the expansion is a response to an expected long-term increase in customer demand as more countries and utilities turn to nuclear power for the first time or seek to extend and diversify fuel supplies for existing nuclear reactor fleets.
The expansion of the Almelo enrichment plant marks the third investment under Urenco's capacity programme.
In July this year, the company approved its first expansion project at its US site in New Mexico, providing an additional capacity of 700 tonnes of SWU per year.
At their site in Gronau, Germany, Urenco is re-fitting an existing space with more modern centrifuge technology which will improve the capacity of the plant.
Boris Schucht, Urenco’s chief executive, said the latest capacity expansion is “the largest so far” and in response to the “growing momentum” behind nuclear energy.
At the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai last week, leaders from the US, Canada, France, Japan and the UK – a group of G7 nations informally known as the Sapporo 5 – announced plans to mobilise $4.2bn (€3.9bn) in government-led investments to develop a secure, reliable global nuclear energy supply chain.
The investments will aim to increase Western uranium enrichment and conversion capacity over the next three years and establish a resilient global uranium supply market free from Russian influence.
