Centrus Energy Corp./American Centrifuge Operating, LLC (formerly USEC Inc.) Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Facility Licensing

On this page:

• Gas Centrifuge Deployment
• High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium Demonstration
• HALEU Production

Gas Centrifuge Deployment

American Centrifuge Operating, LLC (ACO), a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Centrus Energy Corp. (Centrus), possesses one active enrichment facility license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and possessed one that was recently terminated.

The terminated license (SNM-7003), initially issued in February 2004, was for the demonstration facility known as the American Centrifuge Lead Cascade Facility (LCF) located on a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in Piketon, Ohio, which, until December 2016, authorized uranium enrichment up to 10 weight percent Uranium-235 (U-235) in up to 240 operating centrifuges in existing buildings leased by ACO from the DOE. The purpose of the LCF was to demonstrate centrifuge and cascade operation and obtain performance data. No product was withdrawn from the cascade for commercial purposes. The LCF, which operated from 2006 to 2016, was decommissioned in 2018, and had its license terminated on November 8, 2024. The license termination environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (ML24283A207) was published in the Federal Register on November 8, 2024 (89 FR 88818).

ACO’s active license (SNM-2011), issued in 2007 for a period of 30 years, is for the commercial production facility known as the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) involving about 11,500 centrifuges. The NRC’s safety and safeguards review for the commercial ACP is documented in NUREG-1851. The commercial ACP would have a capacity of 3.8 million separative work units (SWU) per year, with an upper U-235 enrichment limit of 10 weight percent. SNM-7003 and SNM-2011 were subsequently modified in 2014 to reflect USEC Inc.’s change of name to Centrus.

The LCF was physically located within the commercial ACP site, occupying about 10 percent of the space reserved for the commercial ACP. The commercial ACP site, in turn, lies completely within the southwest quadrant of the DOE’s reservation, where an adjoining uranium enrichment facility using a gaseous diffusion process previously operated for several decades. Currently, DOE is decommissioning this facility.

High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium Demonstration

On May 31, 2019, ACO signed a three-year contract with the DOE to deploy a cascade of 16 operating uranium enrichment centrifuges to demonstrate production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) in the form of uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) with an enrichment limit of 19.75 weight percent U-235. The site for the HALEU demonstration facility is within the existing ACP structures and areas leased by ACO from DOE in Piketon, Ohio.

The HALEU demonstration program’s primary objectives were:

1. Deploy a 16-machine cascade producing 19.75 weight percent U-235 enriched HALEU product; and
2. Demonstrate capability to produce HALEU, using existing, U.S.-origin enrichment technology, for use in DOE’s research and development program. The 3-year DOE/ACO contract called for production of between 200 and 600 kilograms of HALEU UF₆ before the contract expiration date of May 31, 2022.

HALEU Production

On March 9, 2022, DOE announced its intention to open bidding on a new HALEU operations program which included the following three phases:

• Phase I (~1 year) complete installation of the HALEU cascade and demonstrate an initial production of at least 20 Kg HALEU UF₆
• Phase II (1 year) produce at least 900 Kg HALEU UF₆
• Phase III (3, 3-year option periods) produce at least 900 Kg HALEU UF₆/year.

On November 30, 2022, DOE awarded a $150 million contract to ACO to produce HALEU at the ACP for the three phases. Under the DOE contract, ACO continued the installation of the 16 operating centrifuge cascade for production of HALEU enriched to 19.75 weight percent U-235.

Phase I of the DOE/ACO contract funded HALEU operations through December 2023 on a cost-share basis. HALEU operations under Phase I and part of Phase II, involving the installation of the HALEU cascade and the initial production of HALEU, formerly designated as the HALEU demonstration program, was authorized in Amendment 13 to License SNM-2011, issued on June 11, 2021. This amendment authorized production of 600 kg of HALEU in the form of UF₆ at ACO’s Piketon facility.

On November 30, 2022, ACO submitted an amendment application to further extend the NRC-licensed HALEU operations to the end of 2024. On March 30, 2023, the NRC approved the application by issuing Amendment 20 to SNM-2011 (ML23083B962, ML23083B964, ML23083B966).

On July 3, 2023, the NRC staff issued Amendment 21 to the ACO’s license. Amendment 21 approved: (1) changes to the classified matter security plans for ACO’s facilities in Piketon, Ohio and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and for its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland; and (2) changes to its special nuclear material physical security plan for the ACP in Piketon. These changes to the classified matter security plans and special nuclear material physical security plan were primarily made due to the applicability of newly promulgated regulations at 32 CFR Part 117 National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM).

On December 12, 2022, ACO informed the NRC that it intended to be ready to introduce UF₆ to the HALEU cascade on or after May 22, 2023. The NRC conducted its operational readiness and management verification review (ORR) of the HALEU Demonstration Cascade and listed the inspection reports that contained the ORR findings in an Enclosure to a letter dated June 12, 2023. The NRC staff verified that the HALEU Demonstration Cascade was constructed and will be operated safely and securely in accordance with the requirements of the license. The NRC authorized enrichment of U-235 to the Category III limits defined in 10 CFR 70.4, as special nuclear material of low strategic significance.

The NRC conducted an ORR on August 15 and 16, 2023, to determine whether to issue ACO’s authorization for enriching uranium at the Category II levels defined in 10 CFR 70.4, as special nuclear material of moderate strategic significance. On September 21, 2023, the NRC authorized enrichment of U-235 at the HALEU Demonstration Cascade at the Category II levels.

On September 20, 2024, the NRC issued Amendments 24 to ACO to increase ACO’s possession limits (ML24068A194, ML24068A191, ML24263A214) and allow ACO to produce approximately 1,400 kilograms of HALEU in the form of uranium hexafluoride.

On December 31, 2024, the NRC approved a request by ACO to amend its license to allow the continuation of HALEU operations until June 30, 2025 (ML24345A252, ML24345A255, ML24345A256). The EA and finding of no significant impact (ML24358A175) was published in the Federal Register on December 31, 2024 (89 FR 107168).

On February 26, 2025, the NRC approved ACO’s request for an exemption from criticality accident alarm system (CAAS) monitoring required by 10 CFR 70.24 (ML25029A123, ML25029A122). The approval, issued as Amendment 28, exempts ACO from establishing CAAS monitoring for certain areas and processes where a criticality accident is not credible, and from periodically submitting an event report when the CAAS is unavailable during planned maintenance activities and appropriate compensatory measures are applied.

On December 19, 2024, ACO submitted a license amendment application for continuing HALEU operations (Phase III) at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio (ML24366A040,  ML24366A038, ML24366A045, ML24366A043). The application addresses operation of the existing 16-centrifuge cascade to produce at least 900 kg of HALEU UF₆ per year for three, 3-year optional periods starting on July 1, 2025. The NRC accepted the application for detailed review on February 10, 2025 (ML25042A390) and anticipates completing its review by June 23, 2025.