Urenco USA, the only commercial-scale nuclear fuel producer in the US, aims to lift its capacity to make enriched uranium by almost 50% through a multibillion expansion project as America moves to wean itself off of Russian uranium.
The British, Dutch and German consortium announced plans on Tuesday to expand its enrichment facility in Eunice, New Mexico. Urenco aims to have its plant update operational in six years, helping address concerns of possible fuel shortages at US nuclear sites amid a ban on Russian uranium.
“This expansion reinforces our commitment to a resilient US nuclear fuel supply chain focused on meeting the long-term needs of our customers as well as supporting US energy security,” chief executive officer Boris Schucht said in Tuesday’s statement.
Urenco’s expansion plans come as the Trump administration pushes to quadruple output from US nuclear plants, which will require a leap in uranium fuel production to meet that challenge. The US has been racing to provide huge amounts of electricity for AI data centers, with nuclear power emerging as one of the big winners.
Still, the Energy Information Administration said last September that owners and operators of US reactors face possible uranium shortages over the next decade. While Russia dominates the global market for the nuclear fuel — the nation supplied around a fifth of US demand two years ago — the US banned imports of Russian uranium in 2024, though there are allowances for limited waivers until 2028.
Urenco’s investment will fund the expansion of its New Mexico facility, with the first of 24 sets of centrifuges used to enrich uranium expected to be operational from 2032. The firm said the expansion will add 2.1 million separative work units of new enrichment capacity to the facility. The plant already has an existing annual capacity of 4.3 million SWU, which is roughly a third of current US demand.
(By John Ainger and Will Wade)
