Centrus Energy has signed a contract to finalise the terms of the competitively-awarded, $900m task order it received from the US Department of Energy (DOE) earlier this year. The award will support deployment of large-scale production capacity for high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) as part of Centrus’s multi-billion-dollar capacity expansion that will include Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) as well as HALEU. This transitions the company’s Piketon, Ohio, facility from a government-backed technology demonstration phase to long-term commercial-scale production.
“Today’s announcement marks another milestone in our expansion, as we pivot from a technology demonstration contract to the new, larger contract aimed at commercial scale production,” said Centrus President & CEO Amir Vexler. “The government’s investment from this contract will be matched several times over with billions of dollars in capital, including other non-dilutive, non-debt funding as well as customer contracts to restore America’s ability to enrich uranium at a large scale.”
Centrus won a contract in 2019 to build a cascade of advanced centrifuges in Piketon to demonstrate HALEU production with US. technology. In 2022, the contract was modified and extended to allow for a longer period of HALEU production.
The contract awarded in 2022 progressed through three phases Phase I (late 2023) initiated the operation of the centrifuge cascade of HALEU to the DOE. Phase II (targeting 30 June 2025) required the deployment and initial scaling of production to yield a baseline milestone of 900kg of HALEU Upon the successful completion of Phase II, DOE officially exercised its discretionary option (Phase III) to fund a one-year extension. This pushed the operational window out from its previous 2025 deadline to the most recent target of 30 June 2026.
With the final 900kg batch finished early in mid-June, two weeks ahead of schedule, all production under this 2022 framework has been completed with a cumulative total of more than 1,900 kilograms produced over the life of the contract., making way for the new commercial phase. Centrus and DOE have signed a three-month, $15m extension for HALEU storage.
With its large-scale expansion underway, Centrus is transitioning from the old demonstration contract to commercialisation with the newer, larger enrichment contract. The first new capacity is expected to come online by 2029. In the interim, Centrus intends to privately operate the existing HALEU cascade on a commercial basis to begin supplying the near-term needs of its customers. Centrus is working with DOE on agreements to enable that transition, including a long-term lease extension for the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.
The new, fixed-price HALEU Enrichment contract calls for Centrus to deploy commercial-scale HALEU production capacity in Piketon. It also includes options, at DOE discretion, for up to $170m in HALEU purchases for Departmental missions. The total contract value with all options included is $1.07bn.
The initial build-out will include 12 tonnes of annual HALEU production capacity as well as capacity to meet Centrus existing LEU backlog of $2.4bn. Subject to customer demand, Centrus can continue expanding production of HALEU and LEU to meet market requirements.
Centrus has already launched domestic centrifuge manufacturing at its Oak Ridge, Tennessee facility to feed the Piketon buildout. The expansion project is expected to support thousands of jobs, including 1,000 construction jobs and 300 new operating jobs in Ohio, while retaining 150 existing jobs at the Piketon plant.
The expansion is underpinned by public and private funding along with commercial contracts, a framework that includes national security missions, third party investments such as prepayment, direct foreign investment, LEU and HALEU commercial contracts, and Centrus’ strong capital position.
The Centrus facility in Piketon, Ohio, sits on a historic, highly strategic tract of land that has anchored US nuclear infrastructure for over 70 years. Known formally as the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP), the site is co-located on the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant reservation.
The US Atomic Energy Commission selected the 3,700-acre site in August 1952 to expand the nation’s nuclear capabilities. The facility began operations in 1954 originally to enrich weapons-grade uranium for national defence and Navy nuclear propulsion. In the late 20th century, the site shifted away from military assets to produce LEU for commercial NPPs. The original gaseous diffusion plant officially ceased operations in May 2001 and was returned to the DOE for decontamination and decommissioning.
Centrus’s corporate predecessor, the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), established under the Energy Policy Act of 1992, was intended to take over the government’s uranium enrichment facilities at Piketon, Ohio, and Paducah, Kentucky, moving them toward the private sector. In 1998, the government fully privatised the entity through an initial public offering (IPO), turning USEC into an investor-owned corporation.
Following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, global demand for nuclear fuel plummeted. Global uranium prices crashed, severely restricting USEC’s operational revenue. USEC was spending billions trying to build out the modern American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon but was unable to secure multi-billion-dollar federal loan guarantees to finish it. In March 2014, saddled with $1.07bn in debt, USEC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure its balance sheet.
In September 2014, the company officially emerged from bankruptcy, rebranded as Centrus Energy Corp. The restructuring allowed the company to downsize its expensive legacy liabilities, pivot to a technology-and-services model, and lay the foundation to win the HALEU demonstration contracts that are funding its operations today.
