Centrus Wins $1B+ DOE Contract to Scale HALEU Production

Centrus Energy has signed a definitive contract with the U.S. Department of Energy valued at more than $1 billion to expand domestic commercial production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) at its Piketon, Ohio enrichment cascade. The award expands on an earlier selection this year for roughly $900 million.

The DOE funding is intended to cover part of the capital costs needed to convert the Piketon cascade from demonstration-scale operations to routine commercial output. Centrus plans equipment upgrades and increased throughput to bring production capacity in line with projected commercial demand for advanced reactor fuel.

The agreement follows a commercial letter of intent between Centrus and Oklo Inc., under which Centrus agreed to provide enrichment services for fuel destined for Oklo’s Aurora Powerhouse project in southern Ohio. Oklo’s reactor design requires HALEU, the form of uranium enriched to higher concentrations of the fissile isotope U-235 than conventional low-enriched uranium.

Federal and industry participants have identified limited domestic HALEU supply as a constraint for several next-generation reactor designs. The DOE award aims to expand U.S. enrichment capacity so fuel is available as companies move toward commercial deployment of advanced reactors.

Market exposure to both Centrus and Oklo is available through the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ). VettaFi provides the index for NUKZ and receives an index licensing fee; NUKZ is not issued, sponsored, endorsed, or sold by VettaFi, which has no obligation for the ETF’s issuance, administration, marketing, or trading.

HALEU is required by a number of advanced reactor designs for higher efficiency and different operating characteristics than reactors that use conventional fuel. The DOE and Centrus expect the project at Piketon to address a known supply bottleneck by increasing domestic HALEU output.