Centrus wins $900 million US deal to expand HALEU production

Centrus Energy locked in a $900 million fixed-price task order from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand HALEU production at Piketon, Ohio, a move that strengthens the fuel supply path for advanced reactors that cannot run on standard light-water reactor fuel. With options that could lift the total value to $1.07 billion, the contract gives the U.S. a better chance of keeping microreactor and next-generation power projects from stalling at the fuel gate.

The deal matters because HALEU, high-assay low-enriched uranium, is the bottleneck fuel for many advanced designs. The DOE created its HALEU Availability Program in 2020 to secure a domestic supply for civilian research, development, demonstration and commercial use, and the department says domestic HALEU is not currently available from suppliers. DOE has also warned that supply gaps could delay advanced reactor deployment, which puts this contract much closer to reactor timelines than to ordinary procurement paperwork.

The new award builds on Centrus’ long run-up at the American Centrifuge site in Piketon. On May 31, 2019, American Centrifuge Operating signed a three-year DOE contract to deploy a cascade of 16 uranium enrichment centrifuges there to demonstrate HALEU production up to 19.75 percent U-235. DOE later said Centrus produced the nation’s first 20 kilograms of HALEU in November 2023, then said on June 25, 2025 that the company had reached 900 kilograms, the first such amount in U.S. history.

Centrus said the final 900 kilograms under its previous demonstration contract were finished in mid-June 2026, two weeks ahead of schedule, pushing cumulative output under that deal past 1,900 kilograms. The company now says the first new commercial-scale capacity is expected online by 2029, and the July 1 contract announcement said the broader expansion will include both low-enriched uranium and HALEU. Amir Vexler said Centrus is moving from a technology demonstration contract to a larger contract aimed at commercial-scale production.

The timing is sharper because the U.S. still imports 20% to 25% of its enriched uranium from Russia, and the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act banned Russian LEU imports starting August 11, 2024. With options that include up to $170 million in HALEU purchases for DOE missions, the new Centrus contract does more than fund centrifuges in Piketon. It pulls the HALEU supply chain one step closer to the reactor deployment sequence it has been chasing since the first demonstration cascade was installed.