DOE to supply second cycle of HALEU to three companies

The Department of Energy has announced the three companies it has conditionally agreed to provide the second round of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) allocation for advanced nuclear projects.

The three companies awarded are:

• Antares Nuclear (based in California)
• Standard Nuclear (based in Oak Ridge, Tenn.)
• Abilene Christian University/Natura Resources (based in Texas)

Antares Nuclear will use its HALEU allocation for its advanced microreactor design under DOE’s reactor pilot program and Standard Nuclear will its HALEU to establish TRi-structural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel lines to support DOE’s reactor pilot program and other TRISO-fueled reactors, according to DOE’s Tuesday press release.

Abilene Christian University and Natura Resources will use their HALEU in their new molten research reactor, which is under construction, in Texas.

HALEU is a fuel component for next generation reactors that is not available yet from domestic suppliers.

To fill the gap, DOE established the HALEU Availability Program in 2020 to help secure a domestic supply of HALEU for commercial use, demonstration, development and research.

In April, DOE selected five nuclear companies for HALEU allocation, with three of them requiring fuel delivery in 2025, DOE said.

In the next step, DOE said it will initiate the contracting process with the three companies to allocate the HALEU and the companies could receive HALEU later this year.

DOE plans to continue HALEU distribution to more companies in the future, according to the press release.