Following up from the announcement earlier this year when the Department of Energy (DOE) chose multiple companies to receive grant money for restoring domestic uranium enrichment capacity, Centrus Energy has now finalized a contract valued over $1 billion (including options).

Centrus will transition the existing cascade at their Ohio plant from a government-supply production line to commercial operations. 

The centrifuges in the current cascade can produce about 900 kg of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) per year. The company has produced about 1,900 kg for the DOE since initial production began in 2023. 

The transition to full scale commercial operations has been dragged out through multiple phases over the past decade:

2019 DOE demonstration contract: Centrus’ earlier HALEU work began as a technology demonstration. DOE contracted with Centrus to license, build, and operate a small centrifuge cascade at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. The goal was to prove US enrichment technology could produce HALEU domestically.

2022 Production contract: DOE moved the project from demonstration to limited production. This allowed Centrus to begin producing HALEU for DOE using the Piketon cascade.

2023 HALEU production milestone: Centrus delivered the initial 20 kilograms of HALEU to the DOE.

2025 Contract extension: DOE extended Centrus’ production work through June 30, 2026. This kept the demonstration cascade operating and allowed Centrus to finish producing the initial 900 kg of HALEU.

January 2026 DOE award: DOE selected Centrus for a $900 million HALEU enrichment capacity award. Additional awards were announced for General Matter, Orano, and Global Laser Enrichment.