Centrus Energy announced that it has started making centrifuges in the U.S. to support the production of Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) at its Piketon, Ohio facility. This is a big step forward for Centrus and for the U.S. uranium industry. It will help the company take advantage of its early lead in U.S.-owned uranium enrichment, which is a major change in both the company's and the country's uranium history.
Centrus plans to use its multi-billion-dollar expansion to meet a growing backlog of $2.3 billion in LEU sales to both U.S. and international customers. They also plan to produce High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) in the future.
How Centrus is Funding the Expansion:
- Department of Energy (DOE) Funding: Centrus is a finalist for DOE contracts to produce both LEU and HALEU, which could be worth up to $900 million each.
- Private Capital: Centrus raised $1.2 billion through private funding in 2024 and 2025. They reported a cash balance of more than $1.6 billion by September 2025 and have launched a $1 billion offering.
- Customer Contracts: Centrus has secured $2.3 billion in contracts from customers in the U.S. and abroad. These contracts depend on reaching certain milestones for building new enrichment capacity.
- Third-Party Investment: There is growing interest from investors who want to secure future uranium enrichment by investing in new capacity.
- Foreign Investment: Centrus is working with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and POSCO International to explore investments in new enrichment capacity in Ohio.
- National Security: Centrus’ AC100M centrifuge is the only U.S.-made technology ready to support national security missions, and the National Nuclear Security Administration has shown interest in contracting with Centrus for LEU enrichment.
Executive Statement
According to Centrus Energy CEO and President Amir Vexler, they are excited to announce the official commencement of our industrial-scale centrifuge manufacturing build for commercial LEU enrichment. They make this announcement after carefully evaluating the business’ internal and external progress as well as its future prospects and many competitive advantages. These include the significant progress in building their supply chain; the advancement across the many available avenues to acquire low-cost of capital to support their build, including imminent DOE funding announcements; and, evaluating the progress in their internal manufacturing capabilities.
