Urenco USA given go-ahead for 10% enrichment

Initial production of LEU+ will take place this year, with the first product deliveries to a fuel fabricator planned for 2026.

The company said it received the authorisation from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on 30 September, after successfully implementing changes in its plant systems and procedures and completing an operational readiness review.

Urenco USA Managing Director John Kirkpatrick said the new capability will benefit its current and future customers and support the long-term success of the US nuclear industry. "With LEU+ as an option for fuelling America's reactors, current nuclear plant operators can realise new gains in operations and efficiencies that will support even stronger performance by the country's existing reactor fleet, and advanced reactor developers will have a reliable option to fuel their new designs," he said.

Two isotopes are found in natural uranium: uranium-235 (U-235) and uranium-238. Only U-235 is fissile - but this makes up less than 1% of natural uranium. Enrichment increases the percentage of U-235 by making use of the very slight difference in mass between the fissile and non-fissile isotopes to separate them. Most commercial nuclear reactors currently in operation use fuel fabricated with low-enriched uranium - or LEU - which has been enriched to contain 3-5% U-235.

LEU+ containing 5-10% U-235 will create new opportunities for the current reactor fleet by allowing for longer operating cycles with fewer refuelling outages, reducing operations and maintenance costs, Urenco said. Many advanced reactor technologies currently planned for deployment will also be able to use LEU+ as fuel.

LEU+ can also provide a feedstock for the high-assay low-enriched uranium - or HALEU - containing up to 20% U-235 that will be needed to fuel future advanced reactors and many small modular reactor designs.

Urenco USA's enrichment facility in Eunice, New Mexico, is the only operational commercial enrichment plant in the USA today.

More than 100,000 hours of work have gone into preparations for the new enrichment levels, with significant emphasis on engineering, the development of new procedures, and the implementation of more than 30 new IROFS (Items Relied on for Safety). The process also involved more than 250 modifications to licence basis and programme documents, Urenco USA said. It received licence amendments from the NRC in December 2024 and August 2025 to accommodate the increased levels. All the plant's existing and future cascades will be licensed to produce both LEU and LEU+.

The company recently completed the second phase of a major project to add 700,000 separative work units (SWU) of new capacity at its National Enrichment Facility between 2025-2027, increasing the plant's capacity by 15%.