## Can Nusano's Fluorine-Free Process Crack the HALEU Supply Problem?

Utah-based Nusano is claiming a single 1,200-square-foot enrichment unit can produce 5.9 metric tons of [High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium](https://smrintel.com/glossary/haleu) per year — with no uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) gas required. The company unveiled those figures on September 15, 2026, one day after ANS reported its selection as a second-round participant in the National Reactor Innovation Center's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad program. The project will develop what Nusano calls a "direct metallization HALEU nuclear fuel production line," skipping the fluoridated gas conversion step that defines every major commercial enrichment process operating today. The company says its proprietary separation technique can enrich natural uranium straight to 19.75 percent U-235 — the effective upper limit for HALEU — in a single pass. First unit operations are targeted for 2031. That timeline, the compact footprint claim, and the absence of any detailed disclosure on the underlying separation physics all warrant close scrutiny — but if the process performs as described, it would represent a genuinely distinct pathway to domestic HALEU supply at a moment when the advanced reactor sector is acutely short of enriched fuel.

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## What Is the NRIC Launch Pad and Which Track Did Nusano Join?

The Nuclear Energy Launch Pad is a Department of Energy–led program administered by the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) at Idaho National Laboratory. It operates on two tracks. The **INL track** deploys projects on designated INL campus land. The **USA track** — which is where Nusano is participating — supports "distributed demonstration sites across the United States," with any suitable location outside INL eligible, according to NRIC director Brad Tomer, who described the distinction in a Q&A with Nuclear News in June.

Nusano has not yet disclosed a specific site for its NRIC-backed project. The company's existing radioisotope production facility is in Utah, and it is continuing to develop that operation in parallel — meaning the enrichment project represents a meaningful strategic expansion, not a pivot away from its core radioisotope business.

Nusano was selected in the second round of Launch Pad participants. The ANS report notes that the second round included 13 project selections across 12 companies.

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## The Enrichment Technology: What's Different and What's Missing

Conventional [uranium enrichment](https://smrintel.com/glossary/enrichment) follows a well-understood sequence: yellowcake (U₃O₈) is converted to UF₆ gas, centrifuge cascades separate U-235 from U-238 by exploiting the mass difference between the two isotopes in gaseous form, and the enriched gas is then deconverted back to a solid oxide or metal for fuel fabrication. Every major commercial enricher — [Urenco](https://smrintel.com/companies/urenco), [Centrus Energy Corp](https://smrintel.com/companies/centrus-energy), [Orano](https://smrintel.com/companies/orano) — operates some variant of this gas centrifuge process.

Nusano's stated approach cuts fluoridated chemistry entirely. The company converts uranium feedstock directly to metal, then applies what it describes only as "proprietary separation techniques to separate atoms by mass." The company has not elaborated on what those techniques are — laser isotope separation, electromagnetic separation, and advanced centrifuge-on-metal methods have all been explored historically with varying degrees of commercial viability, but Nusano has not confirmed which, if any, of these underpins its process.

**What the company has disclosed:**

- Enrichment target: 19.75% U-235 (HALEU ceiling)
- Process: Single-pass, no UF₆ intermediate
- Unit output: 5.9 metric tons of HALEU per year
- Unit footprint: 1,200 square feet
- Target operational date for first unit: 2031

**What remains undisclosed:**

- The specific separation physics
- Energy consumption per separative work unit (SWU)
- Capital cost per unit
- NRC licensing pathway — enrichment facilities require an NRC materials license and, depending on enrichment level and throughput, may face additional regulatory requirements under 10 CFR Part 70
- Tails assay and waste stream composition without UF₆

The single-pass claim is notable. Conventional centrifuge enrichment requires cascades of hundreds to thousands of machines to reach HALEU-grade enrichment levels. If Nusano can genuinely achieve 19.75% in one pass from natural uranium, the capital and operational footprint implications would be significant — but the physics burden on the underlying technology would be correspondingly high.

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## The HALEU Supply Context

Nusano enters a domestic enrichment landscape that is crowded with ambition but short on operating capacity. [Centrus Energy Corp](https://smrintel.com/companies/centrus-energy) operates the only U.S.-based HALEU-capable enrichment facility — a demonstration cascade at its Piketon, Ohio plant. [Urenco](https://smrintel.com/companies/urenco) operates the only commercial LEU enrichment facility in the country, at its New Mexico site, but is not currently enriching to HALEU grades domestically. The source notes that at the Global 2026 conference held last month in Chicago, leaders from Centrus, General Matter, and GLE, alongside Urenco, discussed the current domestic enrichment landscape at length — indicating the sector is actively tracking who will actually deliver supply at scale, and when.

The DOE has been deploying financial support broadly. In January of this year, the department awarded funds to multiple enrichment-related projects, though the ANS source text does not itemize those award amounts for individual companies, so specific figures are not reproduced here.

Advanced reactor developers including [TerraPower](https://smrintel.com/companies/terrapower), [X-energy](https://smrintel.com/companies/x-energy), and [Kairos Power](https://smrintel.com/companies/kairos-power) all require HALEU or HALEU-derived fuels for their lead designs. The gap between projected demand from those programs and confirmed enrichment capacity remains a structural risk for the sector's 2030s deployment wave.

A 2031 first-unit target from Nusano, if achieved, would be marginally useful for early advanced reactor fuel loads — but only if the technology scales and clears NRC licensing, both of which remain undemonstrated.

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## Analyst Take: Real Technology Signal, Real Disclosure Gap

Nusano's core claim — fluorine-free, single-pass enrichment to HALEU grade in a 1,200 square foot footprint — is either a meaningful technological departure or an early-stage assertion that will hit hard physics and regulatory walls on the way to commercialization. The NRIC selection provides some external validation: DOE and INL program managers reviewed competing proposals before selecting Nusano in the second round. That is worth something, though Launch Pad is explicitly an innovation support program, not a commercial deployment guarantee.

The opacity around the separation technique is the most significant open question. [First of a Kind (FOAK)](https://smrintel.com/glossary/foak) enrichment technology has a poor commercial track record — laser enrichment programs in particular have absorbed hundreds of millions of dollars of investment without reaching commercial operation. Until Nusano discloses more about its underlying physics, project finance will be difficult and independent technical assessment is impossible.

For the broader HALEU market, Nusano represents one more entrant in a supply development race that the sector genuinely needs to see resolved. Whether it delivers capacity or serves primarily as a technology proof-of-concept will depend heavily on what NRC engagement looks like and whether the 2031 target survives contact with a licensing process that has no established precedent for this specific approach.

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## Key Takeaways

- Nusano was selected as a second-round participant in NRIC's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad USA track, which uses distributed demonstration sites outside INL.
- The company will develop a direct metallization HALEU production line, bypassing UF₆ gas conversion entirely.
- Claimed output: 5.9 metric tons of HALEU per year from a single 1,200 square foot unit.
- Target enrichment level: 19.75% U-235 in a single-pass process.
- First unit operational target: 2031.
- The specific separation technology has not been publicly disclosed, limiting independent technical assessment.
- Nusano continues to develop a separate radioisotope production facility in Utah alongside this enrichment project.
- The DOE awarded enrichment development funds to multiple companies in January 2026; Global 2026 highlighted the active competition and urgency around domestic HALEU supply.

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## Frequently Asked Questions

**What is Nusano's HALEU enrichment technology?**
Nusano is developing a "direct metallization" process that converts uranium feedstock to metal before enrichment, bypassing the standard UF₆ gas conversion step used in conventional centrifuge enrichment. The company says it uses proprietary separation techniques to separate uranium isotopes by mass, targeting 19.75% U-235 enrichment in a single pass. The specific separation physics have not been publicly disclosed.

**What is the NRIC Nuclear Energy Launch Pad?**
The Nuclear Energy Launch Pad is a DOE program administered by the National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory. It has two tracks: an INL track for projects deployed on INL land, and a USA track for projects at distributed sites elsewhere in the country. Nusano is participating in the USA track.

**How much HALEU can Nusano's system produce?**
According to the company, a single enrichment unit can produce 5.9 metric tons of HALEU per year within a footprint of 1,200 square feet. Nusano has not disclosed how many units it plans to deploy or a total production capacity target.

**When will Nusano's first HALEU enrichment unit be operational?**
The company has stated its first unit is scheduled to be operational in 2031. This timeline is contingent on technology development, NRC licensing, site selection, and capital deployment — none of which have been publicly detailed.

**Who else is developing domestic HALEU enrichment capacity?**
Centrus Energy Corp operates the only currently operating HALEU-capable enrichment demonstration cascade in the United States, located in Piketon, Ohio. Urenco operates the only commercial LEU enrichment facility in the U.S. Additional companies including General Matter and GLE are also working on domestic enrichment capacity, as discussed at the Global 2026 conference in Chicago last month. The DOE awarded funding to multiple enrichment projects in January 2026.