DOE Picks Six Companies to Provide HALEU Fuel Services for Advanced Reactors
The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) announced six companies have successfully bid to provide deconversion services for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel to support advanced nuclear reactors.
The DOE on October 8 announced the complete list of successful bidders. They include Nuclear Fuel Services, part of BWX Technologies (BWXT); American Centrifuge Operating, part of Centrus Energy; Framatome; GE Vernova; Orano; and Westinghouse.
The DOE contracts are designed to support the buildout of a U.S. supply chain for fuels for advanced nuclear reactors. Many of those reactors will require HALEU fuel to enable smaller designs and support longer operating cycles. Those reactors would offer increased efficiencies over current technologies, according to the DOE.
“Building a strong, reliable domestic nuclear fuel supply chain will help our nation reach the President and Vice President’s ambitious climate goals while also protecting the environment and creating good-paying, high-quality jobs,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David M. Turk. “Today’s announcement underscores the Biden-Harris Administration’s continued commitment to strengthening our energy and national security by our eliminating America’s reliance on Russian uranium for civil nuclear power.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration knows that nuclear energy is essential to accelerating America’s clean energy future,” said Ali Zaidi, Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor. “Boosting our domestic uranium supply won’t just advance President Biden’s historic climate agenda, but also increase America’s energy security, create good-paying union jobs, and strengthen our economic competitiveness. The path to greater energy security and more climate solutions runs through investments like these, being made at historic scale by President Biden. It’s good news for our economy, for America’s union workforce, and for our planet.”
HALEU deconversion is a critical step in the fuel supply chain for advanced nuclear reactors. HALEU is uranium enriched between 5% and 20%, which increases the amount of fissile material to make the fuel more efficient. The DOE said that after enrichment, a process performed while in gaseous uranium hexafluoride form, the material needs to be deconverted to oxide or metal forms that are fabricated into fuel for advanced reactors.
The contracts announced Tuesday will be in force for up to 10 years. Each company receives a minimum contract of $2 million, with up to $800 million available for these services, subject to the availability of appropriations, according to the DOE.
“The support for the nuclear energy industry is unprecedented and is essential as the demand for safe, reliable, clean energy continues to grow,” said Framatome Inc. CEO Tony Robinson on Tuesday in an email to POWER. “This investment from the DOE demonstrates its commitment to the nuclear energy industry and, coupled with the proactive work we have performed over the last two years, provides advanced reactor developers confidence to select Framatome as their supplier of choice.”
Framatome patented its dry conversion process in 1989 at its Richland, Washington, facility. For more than 30 years, the process has been utilized for commercial nuclear fuel production and is the foundation for producing HALEU for advanced reactors, according to the company.
Orano in an email to POWER wrote that the company “formed a team bringing together the best-in-class capabilities and experience of its affiliates led by Orano Federal Services [Orano FS] with teaming partners including Fluor, Spectra Tech, Shine Technologies [SHINE], and others.”
“We are proud to be selected by the DOE to participate in this program and for the opportunity to apply our decades of deconversion expertise to developing fuel for Gen-IV reactors in the U.S.,” said Jean-Luc Palayer, CEO of Orano USA. “Our team of expert companies represents the full range of capabilities needed for success and certainty of project delivery, plus the benefits from our strong relationships with community partners. With the U.S. goal of tripling nuclear energy by 2050, we need this active focus on developing a secure domestic fuel supply for all reactors.”
Amir Vexler, president and CEO of Centrus, in a statement said, “This award is a critical piece of the puzzle in building an advanced nuclear fuel supply chain to support the next generation of reactors. More broadly, this award is an important step toward expanding and diversifying the capabilities of our Ohio facility.” The Centrus uranium enrichment plant is located in Piketon, Ohio. Vexler added, “As the only U.S.-owned, U.S.-technology enrichment company, Centrus looks forward to leading the effort to reclaim America’s nuclear fuel leadership—with American technology, built by American workers.”
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).