Aim is to increase capacity at New Mexico facility by 15% by 2027
Urenco USA has begun producing low-enriched uranium (LEU), which is primarily used as fuel in commercial nuclear power plants, with its second new cascade of gas centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility in New Mexico.
The company said it had started the cascade ahead of schedule and built it on budget, continuing its expansion of US enrichment capacity in support of the country’s goal of strengthening the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain.
Urenco USA will add 700,000 separative work units (SWU) of new capacity at the site between 2025-2027, which will increase the plant’s capacity by 15%.
SWUs are the standard measure of the effort required in a uranium enrichment facility to separate uranium-235 (U-235) from uranium-238 (U-238), thereby increasing the concentration of U-235, the isotope that can split to produce energy.
Urenco USA has been selected by the US Department of Energy for contracts to provide enrichment services. Washington says the company’s work is crucial for providing the fuel needed for US power generation and for developing future advanced nuclear technologies.
Urenco USA brought the initial cascade of the expansion online in May, representing the first capacity added to the site in several years.
Urenco USA is the US’s only commercial producer of enriched uranium and has been enriching uranium in the US since 2010.
The company’s subsidiary Louisiana Energy Services operates the New Mexico enrichment facility, known as the National Enrichment Facility, a strategic part of US national energy infrastructure and nuclear fuel supply chain.
The facility represents a commercial investment of private capital in US manufacturing totalling more than $5bn (€4.2bn) to date.
“With the current expansion campaign, our projects and operations teams are demonstrating their ability to build, install, and startup new cascades on a regular schedule, proving we are capable of growing to meet new demand as it arises,” said John Kirkpatrick, managing director for Urenco USA.
“We know how important this expansion is to our US utility customers, who have relied on us as a long-term domestic supplier of nuclear fuel, and we are confident we can deliver additional capacity on schedule in the years ahead.”
