Earnings rose for Centrus Energy in the first quarter of 2023, during which the uranium broker and enrichment-technology developer finished building its 16-machine high-assay low-enriched uranium enrichment cascade.
The company reported $7.2 million in net income, or $0.49 a share, in the first quarter on $66.9 million in revenue, compared with a net loss of $400,000 on $35 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2022, according to a statement released on Tuesday. Centrus’ quarterly results can fluctuate greatly year-over-year based on the timing of uranium fuel orders from nuclear power-plant owners.
Company-wide revenue was $66.9 million through March 31, an increase of $31.6 million over the same period last year.
Revenue from the Technical Solutions segment, which includes a Department of Energy contract to produce high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU), was $8.1 million, a decrease of $9.5 million from the first quarter of 2022.
Centrus took a $11.6 million revenue hit from a DOE HALEU demonstration contract that is ending, and another $5.6 million from other deals coming to a close, the company said. Those losses were partially offset by $7.7 million in revenue from the successor HALEU operations contract DOE awarded in 2022, Centrus said.
Centrus is the only company in the U.S. with a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to produce HALEU. In early February, the company completed construction and initial testing of a cascade of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges, from which it must produce a test batch of HALEU by year’s end in order for the NRC to sign off on its entry into rate production.
DOE finalized the HALEU operations contract with Centrus in November. The deal to operate the 16-machine HALEU cascade at the agency’s Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio, is worth up to $1 billion over 10 years.
Centrus said it is prepared to begin demonstrating HALEU production by the end of 2023, after completing remaining support systems and obtaining final approval from the NRC.
The HALEU contract’s two-year base period runs through 2024, is worth $150 million and is split into three phases.
The first phase of the contract, the only phase with a cost-share, calls for Centrus to produce a 20 kilograms test batch of DOE-approved HALEU by Dec. 31, 2023. That phase carries a $30 million cost share that DOE will match. Phase 2 involves a full year of production with an annual rate of 900 kilograms of HALEU. DOE then has the option to extend the contract for up to nine years in three year increments after 2024.
Centrus’ new HALEU cascade uses the same AC100M centrifuge technology the National Nuclear Security Administration had considered using as the cornerstone of the next national-defense cascade. If the company can produce an all-domestic version of these centrifuges, which the cascade in Portsmouth is not, the machines could be used to refine uranium for nuclear weapons and Navy warships and submarines.