News

Urenco marks installation of new US enrichment capacity

10 October 2024

Urenco has installed the first new centrifuges of an expansion project in the United States, which is on track to be delivering additional capacity next year. The centrifuges were installed in an existing centrifuge hall at the company’s enrichment site in Eunice, New Mexico.

Federal, State and local officials, Urenco leadership, representatives of the more than 500 Urenco USA employees and contractors, and members of the community gathered at the facility to mark the occasion.  Following a milestone celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony, guests were able to tour the centrifuge hall on Wednesday (October 9). 

The project will provide an approximately 15 percent increase in enrichment capacity at the site, providing an additional 700,000 SWU per year. Urenco US is on schedule to begin producing enriched uranium from newly installed centrifuges in 2025. 

Urenco CEO, Boris Schucht, said: “Our enrichment site in Eunice is ideally located to serve our US customers and the wider global market to help meet energy security and decarbonization goals.   “This facility has successfully operated for more than a decade and the expansion is further proof of the domestic supply it consistently delivers.

“This is only the latest step. We are intending to further expand our capacity in the US, subject to market needs, as the strong momentum in the nuclear industry continues. 

“This will not only mean an even stronger US nuclear fuel supply chain, but more jobs, skills, and development so we can continue to attract and retain the next generation of operators, engineers and scientists for the future of this industry.”

Urenco’s Eunice site is the only commercial enrichment facility in the US. In 2023, its annual production was 4.4 million SWU.  The site has the physical space and license to further expand its annual production up to 10 million SWU.

The site’s expansion project, scheduled for completion in 2027, is the first to be delivered under Urenco’s capacity expansion program, and will strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain both in the US and globally. In total, under Urenco’s current expansion, 1.8 million SWU will be delivered across three projects, including two others at Urenco’s sites in Germany and the Netherlands.  

Welcoming the news, Gov. Lujan Grisham said:  “Today’s announcement in Eunice underscores the importance of Urenco’s work not only to New Mexico but to the nation and the world. This expansion will bolster New Mexico’s economy, enhance national security, and help the U.S. meet net zero emission targets that will protect our planet from the adverse effects of climate change. I appreciate Urenco’s investment in our state and wish them well in this important endeavor.”

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich also stated:  “We need to find ways to provide clean and reliable energy for all Americans. Carbon pollution-free nuclear power is necessarily going to be part of any equation that gets us all the way to our climate and clean energy goals. That’s why it’s so important for us to stand up a secure and American-made supply chain for commercial-scale enriched uranium with producers like Urenco USA, which is significantly expanding its facility in Lea County, New Mexico.

 “I will continue working to shore up our domestic nuclear fuel supply chain and invest in American producers that are creating the types of good-paying jobs that New Mexicans can build their families around while helping us build out our clean, reliable, and affordable energy future.”