Company: LEU
Filing Date: 2025-02-07
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001065059-25-000006
Chunk: 3

Company: CENTRUS ENERGY CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-07
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 3
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 demonstrating its HALEU production process. HALEU is a high-performance nuclear fuel component that will be required by a number of advanced reactor and fuel designs that are now under development for commercial and government uses. While existing reactors typically operate on LEU with the U235 concentration below 5%, HALEU is further enriched so that the U235 concentration is between 5% and 20%. The higher U235 concentration offers a number of potential advantages, which may include better fuel utilization, improved performance, fewer refueling outages, simpler reactor designs, reduced waste volumes, and greater nonproliferation resistance.

The lack of HALEU supply is a major obstacle to the successful commercialization of these new reactors. For example, in surveys of advanced reactor developers conducted by the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council in 2020 and 2021, respondents indicated that the number one issue that “keeps you up at night” was access to HALEU. As the only company with a license from the NRC actively enriching up to 20% U235 assay HALEU and that is operating a small scaled HALEU production facility, Centrus is uniquely positioned to fill a critical gap in the supply chain and facilitate the deployment of these promising next-generation reactors. 

The war in Ukraine, along with the Import Ban Act and the Russian Decree, have contributed to a significant increase in market prices for enrichment and have prompted calls for public and private investment in new, domestic uranium enrichment capacity not only for HALEU production but also for LEU production to support the existing fleet of reactors. As a result, Centrus is exploring the opportunity to deploy LEU enrichment alongside HALEU enrichment to meet a range of commercial and U.S. government requirements, which would bring cost synergies while increasing revenue opportunities. Our ability to deploy LEU and/or HALEU enrichment, and the timing, sequencing, and scale of those capabilities, is subject to the task orders (and their funding levels) DOE is expected to issue under our LEU and HALEU Production Contracts.

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Under the HALEU Demonstration Contract signed in 2019, Centrus entered into an agreement with the DOE to construct a cascade of 16 AC100M centrifuges in Piketon, Ohio to demonstrate HALEU production. The DOE funded the HALEU Demonstration Contract up to $173.0 million with a period of performance that ended November 30, 2022. Closeout activities on the HALEU Demon