DOE Picks Four HALEU Producers With Up to $2.7 Billion in Support

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected four companies to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for next-generation reactors, pairing the selections with financial support worth up to $2.7 billion.

The four awardees

The companies are American Centrifuge Operating, a Centrus Energy subsidiary; Urenco's U.S. entity, which operates a facility in New Mexico; Orano's U.S. arm, headquartered in France with a site in Maryland; and General Matter.

Each selected company receives a base contract of at least $2 million, with contract terms of up to 10 years. Additional awards for producing and storing HALEU in uranium hexafluoride (UF6) form will follow, subject to budgets allocated by Congress.

The 2028 Russia deadline

The selections are the first use of funds prepared to expand domestic production since Congress passed legislation in May 2024 banning imports of Russian uranium from 2028. Reporting on the program notes that Russia is currently the only country capable of producing HALEU at commercial scale.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said ensuring a domestic supply chain is a necessary task in order to start next-generation reactors in time to match clean electricity demand.

Piketon as a springboard

Centrus CEO Amir Vexler described the award as a major public-private milestone and a potentially decisive springboard for expanding the enrichment facility at Piketon, Ohio. That build-out is already underway: in January 2026 the DOE awarded Centrus a $900 million task order to expand HALEU production at the site.

NuCNET, the Brussels-based nuclear industry publication, reported on October 18 that the DOE measures amount to a critical national-level effort to rebuild the U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain ahead of the Russian uranium import ban.

Why HALEU matters

HALEU is uranium enriched to between 5% and 20% in uranium-235, compared with the below-5% low-enriched uranium used in today's large commercial reactors. The higher fissile density allows much smaller reactor cores and significantly longer refueling intervals. Multiple small modular reactors planned for deployment in the 2030s are designed around it. The DOE has acknowledged that U.S. domestic commercial-scale HALEU enrichment capacity is insufficient — a gap the four selections are intended to close.

This article was assisted by AI analysis. Please refer to the original source for official information.