Urenco USA (UUSA) has signed an enrichment services supply agreement with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) as part of the fuel supply programme for USNC’s Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR). UUSA is operated by Louisiana Energy Services, the only US commercial producer supplying uranium enrichment services.
USNC will purchase enriched uranium product (EUP) from UUSA for use in the manufacture of Tri-structural Isotropic (TRISO) particles and Fully Ceramic Micro-encapsulated (FCM) fuel via USNC’s planned joint venture with Framatome in the United States. This marks the first ever commercial supply of EUP for use in an advanced reactor. The EUP will be produced and supplied by the UUSA uranium enrichment facility located in New Mexico. Terms and details of the supply agreement are commercially confidential
USNC says the agreement strengthens its vertical integration across the value chain to maximise competitive advantage and reduce risk by securing sufficient quantities of EUP to support MMR active deployments. USNC's MMR is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) with a thermal capacity of 15 MW and an electrical capacity of 5 MW. It comprises two plants – a nuclear plant that generates heat for an adjacent power plant that converts it into electricity or provides process heat for industrial applications. It will have a sealed transportable core and is designed to use TRISO fuel in prismatic graphite blocks. The MMR is being licensed in Canada and the USA.
“We’ve been working hard to manage and de-risk the front end of our fuel cycle,” says UNSC Executive Vice President Kurt Terrani. “With others facing so much uncertainty regarding fuel supply, it is vital to have reliable commercial partners to source, transport, and deconvert our EUP, feeding our fuel factory operations.”
Karen Fili, President & CEO at UUSA says: “By leveraging our US infrastructure and highly skilled workforce, UUSA is well-positioned to supply enriched uranium product to fuel those reactors, as needed by the market and supported by long-term supply agreements.”
The first batch of EUP is slated for delivery to the USNC-Framatome fuel manufacturing joint venture in 2025, to coincide with the start of their TRISO and FCM fuel factory operations. This will be used to fuel USNC’s MMR deployments with some availability to the wider advanced reactor market. MMR deployments are moving forward, including projects at Chalk River in Canada, with a view to first power in 2026, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, targeted for first power in 2027.
Image courtesy of Urenco USA/USNC
