Westinghouse has announced a $1 billion investment to construct a new plant fabricating fuel with uranium enriched up to 8 percent uranium-235 at the site of its Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in Hopkins, South Carolina. The company aims to produce 600 metric tons of uranium (MTU) of fuel per year beginning in 2030.
It would be the first new fleet-scale nuclear fuel factory built in the United States in more than 50 years, and it sits adjacent to an existing plant constructed in 1968 that employs more than 1,200 people.
Staying Inside the Category III Limit
The existing Columbia facility is licensed as a Category III fuel fabrication plant permitted to process low-enriched uranium below 10 percent uranium-235. Conventional light water reactor LEU typically approaches 5 percent, while LEU+ spans 5 to 10 percent. Westinghouse says the new facility will produce LEU+ enriched up to 8 percent — comfortably inside the Category III boundary.
Westinghouse was the first company to deploy LEU+ fuel in the United States, with lead test assemblies inserted into Southern Nuclear's Vogtle-2 in April 2025.
Those lead assemblies contained EnCore ATF Lead Test Assemblies with greater-than-5 percent LEU+ ADOPT fuel manufactured at the Columbia site.
New Process, New Configuration
The proposed facility will use different technology and plant configuration than the existing LEU plant, targeting more efficient operations and greater automation. Westinghouse plans to incorporate its ammonia-free "dry" process for converting uranium hexafluoride into uranium dioxide powder — currently used at its UK facility — and will use its proprietary Advanced Doped Pellet Technology (ADOPT), which incorporates chromia (Cr2O3) and alumina (Al2O3) into pellets for higher thermal stability.
Refuelling Cycles and Uprates
Westinghouse intends the LEU+ fuel for existing pressurized water reactors. Conventional LEU-fueled reactors typically refuel every 18 months; LEU+ could extend that to 24 months, allowing longer stretches of continuous operation. LEU+ is also expected to unlock advanced operating plant uprates.
The investment aligns with the DOE's UPRISE programme launched earlier in 2026, which targets a 5 GW increase in US nuclear capacity from the existing fleet by 2029. Westinghouse projects the $1 billion investment will generate $4.9 billion in positive economic impact across South Carolina over 10 years, including about $3.8 billion in Richland County.
The Enrichment Boundary
Uranium-235 makes up only about 0.7 percent of natural uranium and must be enriched. LEU+ sits in the higher-enrichment range that ultimately includes HALEU, making the South Carolina buildout a step along a continuous enrichment ladder rather than an isolated project.
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