The National Enrichment Facility, the only commercial uranium enrichment center in the US, has reached a key milestone by completing 75 percent of its capacity expansion target. The facility is looking to increase its uranium production capacity to seven million separative work units (SWU) over the next decade as it looks to boost uranium enrichment in the US.
The demand for carbon-free energy sources is leading us back to nuclear energy which can produce power on demand without any associated carbon emissions. While earlier nuclear power projects have been marked by cost overruns and construction delays, newer approaches of building reactors at scale have brought in new hope about nuclear energy.
Even though the US leads in the development of these new-age technologies, it is also the largest consumer of uranium but not a major producer. Nuclear facilities in the US rely on international purchases to feed their reactors, while there is only one facility that can actually enrich uranium.
What is uranium enrichment?
Naturally, uranium is found as two isotopes. U-238 and U-235. While U-238 is the stable form of uranium, it is the U-235 that is used as fuel in nuclear reactors. U-238 makes up 99.3 percent of natural uranium. U-235 levels must be increased to 3.5-5 percent of total uranium before it can be used in fission reactors, which is achieved through enrichment.
For enrichment, mined uranium is first processed into yellowcake containing largely triuranium octoxide (U3O8), which is then converted to uranium hexafluoride (UF6). Even at low temperatures, UF6 can easily convert to the gaseous state, which is then pumped into gas centrifuges, spinning at tens of thousands of rotations per minute.
At these high speeds, the slight differences in mass of U-235 and U-238 are sufficient to separate them, with the heavier U-238 settling outside and the U-235 concentrating in the middle. Hundreds and thousands of centrifuges are arranged in a cascade to pass the gas repeatedly from one stage to the next and increasing the purity of the U-235.
Urenco’s enrichment capacity in the US
Since each centrifuge contributes a small part to separation of U-235, it becomes difficult to quantify its individual capacity, Instead, facilities sum up the total work done by the centrifuges, in terms of how many kilograms of separation work they have done, to determine the capacity of a facility and is referred to as separation work units (SWU).
Urenco’s uranium enrichment facility in Eunice, New Mexico, currently offers 4.3 million SWU per year, which is about a third of the US demand. With the US planning to increase its dependence on nuclear energy in the future, Urenco is building capacity for enrichment and plans to roll out seven million SWU over the next decade.
Between 2025 and 2027, Urenco is adding new capacity of 700,000 SWU by adding eight centrifuge cascades at its existing site. With the beginning of installation of the sixth cascade, the company has reached an important milestone as it completes 75 percent of the planned capacity upgrade.
Installation of the seventh cascade is also expected to be completed by the end of the year, while the eight and final cascade will be installed in 2027.
“We are consistently delivering new capacity to help fuel the US nuclear industry and allied nations, and our teams are doing it ahead of schedule and on budget,” said Jody Blackshear, Managing Director of Urenco USA in a press release.
“This experience will support our larger capacity programs in the years ahead as we look to increase our enrichment production by more than 50% to meet the needs of our customers with traditional and advanced reactors.”