Centrus Energy Corp. started enriching energy dense uranium fuel using a new centrifuge cascade at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio, the company said Wednesday.
Centrus, Bethesda, Md., marked the milestone with a tour of the event that included Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk. The company thinks it will begin retrieving low enriched high assay uranium, or HALEU, from its Piketon centrifuges “this month,” according to a press release.
Centrus is making the HALEU for DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy under the second of two contracts the office has cut with the company to produce the fuel, which is 19.75% uranium-235 by mass.
The first phase of the current contract’s two-year base period calls for Centrus to produce 20 kilograms of HALEU for DOE’s inspection by Dec. 31. If DOE approves the sample, Centrus would be on the hook to produce 900 kilograms of HALEU by December 2024 in the base period’s second phase.
DOE also holds a trio of three-year options that would require Centrus to produce 900 kilograms of HALEU annually. DOE wants the HALEU to help commercialize advanced nuclear reactor designs that require such fuel.
The HALEU cascade has also given Centrus a chance to bug shake technology and supply chains that could be called into service for national defense under the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Domestic Uranium Enrichment Program.
