TRISO-X Reaches Major Construction Milestone for First U.S. HALEU Fuel Facility
TRISO-X, a subsidiary of X-energy, has reached a significant construction milestone for its TX-1 advanced nuclear fuel facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Once completed, the TX-1 plant will hold the distinction of being the first commercial nuclear fuel fabrication facility built in the United States in over 50 years. More importantly, it will be dedicated entirely to producing TRISO fuel for advanced reactors that require high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU).
The facility's completion marks a critical step in establishing a domestic HALEU fuel-fabrication supply chain, an area where the United States currently lacks established commercial capabilities. In February 2026, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) granted TRISO-X a 40-year Special Nuclear Material license, marking the first Category II fuel fabrication license issued by the agency and the first ever authorized to process HALEU.
Production Capacity and Strategic Investments
The TX-1 plant is designed to produce 700,000 TRISO-X pebbles annually, equating to 5 metric tons of uranium. This initial capacity is sufficient to fuel 11 of X-energy's proprietary Xe-100 advanced reactors. The output is exclusively earmarked for X-energy's closed-loop supply chain, supporting planned deployments at Dow's Seadrift, Texas plant and the Amazon-Energy Northwest Cascade project in Washington.
This monumental infrastructure push is heavily backed by private capital. Amazon's $500 million Series C-1 investment in X-energy in 2024 was explicitly intended, in part, to complete the first phase of the TRISO-X HALEU fuel fabrication facility. Despite being pre-revenue with negative trailing operating cash flow, X-energy relies on approximately $1.1 billion in cash to fund its dual development of HALEU fuel plants and reactor fleets.
The TX-1 facility represents a paradigm shift in domestic nuclear fuel production, breaking a 50-year drought in commercial HALEU fuel fabrication and securing the supply chain for next-generation advanced reactors.
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