Demand is pushing US companies to design new, advanced nuclear reactors. Many of these will need HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium), a special kind of enriched uranium that Centrus supplies.
Centrus Energy Corp. runs a facility in Ohio that has space to hold 11,000 centrifuges, which are used to make nuclear fuel. Right now, only 16 machines are running and producing a new type of enriched uranium, but there’s room for many more.
Now, as tech companies need more power, like those working with AI, demand for nuclear energy is rising.
This demand is pushing US companies to design new, advanced reactors. Many of these will need HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium), a special kind of enriched uranium that Centrus supplies. While there isn’t much HALEU available yet and demand is still developing, that may soon change.
In late August, the US Department of Energy issued conditional commitments to provide HALEU to three projects. Earlier in April, a similar deal was made with five other companies, including the startup Radiant Industries Inc. This development is a positive sign for the US nuclear industry and for companies involved in the production or consumption of HALEU.
Nuclear reactors depend on a specific isotope, uranium-235, to maintain a fission chain reaction, but this isotope constitutes only 0.7% of the raw ore extracted. Changing this ore into fuel is a complex, multi-step process. Presently, conventional reactors use fuel with a 5% concentration level, referred to as low-enriched uranium, while HALEU is approximately 20%.
Demand for nuclear energy is growing as more electricity is needed for factories, homes, and the increasing number of data centers. Radiant, a company in El Segundo, California, is developing a small microreactor that produces 1 megawatt of power, much less than the 1 gigawatt output of most nuclear plants. Their Kaleidos reactor is designed to fit inside a standard shipping container, so it can power small data centers, military bases, disaster relief efforts, and remote sites. Radiant expects to get a small amount of HALEU in September and plans to begin testing its first demo system at Idaho National Laboratory next spring.
If demand for this fuel takes off, the nuclear industry will likely rely on Centrus, the only US company allowed to make HALEU. Centrus started its HALEU production line in 2023, before there was demand. Right now, it produces a small amount but says it is ready to ramp up when needed.
The main problem is that no company has permission yet to build a commercial reactor using HALEU. It’s also unclear when any company will get the needed approvals or be able to build a power plant with this fuel. Radiant hopes to launch a commercial system by 2028; however, it still requires a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. X-Energy LLC, another company chosen to get HALEU, has deals to supply reactors to Dow and Amazon. Even so, building nuclear plants takes a long time, and X-Energy’s first reactor, meant for a Dow facility in Texas, probably won’t be running until the early 2030s.
Tensions with Russia have made the nuclear fuel market even more complicated. Russia currently controls about 44% of the world’s enrichment capacity and supplies 20% of the fuel used in US reactors. The US has just one facility making traditional nuclear fuel and has been working to boost its output since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Last year, the Biden administration set a goal to triple US nuclear capacity by 2050. As electricity demand grows, President Donald Trump signed orders in May to try to quadruple reactor output. The industry is preparing for a wave of new construction, with both traditional and advanced reactors needing uranium fuel.
Now, federal assistance is given to make additional advancements in nuclear fuel. In early August. The federal government is also supporting the development of new types of nuclear fuel.