# Is the U.S. Finally Rebuilding Its Uranium Enrichment Base?

Four companies laid out their domestic [uranium enrichment](https://smrintel.com/glossary/enrichment) expansion plans at Global 2026 this week — and the combined picture is the most credible rebuilding effort the U.S. fuel cycle has seen in decades. [Urenco](https://smrintel.com/companies/urenco) is installing 2.1 million separative work units (SWU) of new gas centrifuge capacity at its Eunice, New Mexico facility, targeting more than 7 million SWU by 2036. [Centrus Energy Corp](https://smrintel.com/companies/centrus-energy) secured a DOE agreement valued at $900 million this summer to expand [High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium](https://smrintel.com/glossary/haleu) production at its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. Global Laser Enrichment filed its NRC license application in July 2025 and is targeting construction start in 2027 and facility completion by 2030. General Matter signed a lease for a 100-acre parcel at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to stand up yet another private enrichment operation.

The backdrop is stark: the U.S. held 64 percent of global enrichment capacity in 1985. By 2024, that share had collapsed to less than 1 percent, while Russia now controls 43 percent. That geopolitical vulnerability — not just market economics — is driving the urgency visible at every session of the American Nuclear Society's Global 2026 conference.

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## Urenco USA: 2.1 Million SWU Expansion, DOE Secretary on Hand

The highest-profile moment of the fuel cycle plenary came before the panel even convened. On Tuesday, DOE Secretary Chris Wright attended a groundbreaking ceremony at Urenco USA's Eunice site — a signal of federal priority, not just corporate ambition.

The expansion adds 2.1 million SWU of gas centrifuge capacity, growing the facility to more than 7 million SWU annually by 2036, according to Mary Neumayr, Urenco's head of government affairs. The facility's existing NRC license permits up to 10 million SWU, meaning there is further headroom should market demand materialize.

Globally, Urenco already produces 17.2 million SWU per year, so the Eunice expansion represents a meaningful but not transformative share of the parent company's output. More strategically significant is Urenco's separate [HALEU](https://smrintel.com/glossary/haleu) advanced fuels facility at its Capenhurst, England, site, which Neumayr said will be ready by 2031.

Neumayr was candid about two structural risks. First, workforce: competing for technical talent against adjacent industries remains a persistent constraint that capacity announcements alone cannot solve. Second, demand uncertainty: the fleet of advanced reactors driving HALEU requirements is still years from firm fuel offtake commitments.

"We are looking at the deployment of new reactors, but it's still not as well known what those demands will be for advanced fuels," Neumayr said.

That uncertainty is a meaningful flag for investors modeling enrichment returns. Capacity built ahead of confirmed reactor deployments carries real stranded-asset risk, particularly for [First of a Kind (FOAK)](https://smrintel.com/glossary/foak) enrichment technologies.

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## Centrus: $900M DOE Agreement and a Stark Historical Warning

Centrus VP for corporate communications Dan Leistikow led with the most pointed framing of the panel. The 1985-to-2024 collapse in U.S. enrichment share — from 64 percent to less than 1 percent — is not a market story, he argued. It is a strategic failure.

"This entire supply chain around the world — which the United States used to dominate — is now almost completely owned by foreign, state-owned enterprises," Leistikow said. "We collectively have a big hole to fill."

Centrus's near-term response: a contract signed this month with [X-energy](https://smrintel.com/companies/x-energy) that supports expanding Centrus's domestic commercial enrichment program at Piketon, Ohio. Separately, Centrus reached a DOE agreement this summer valued at $900 million to support expanded HALEU production capacity at the same site.

The Piketon plant is the only facility in the U.S. currently licensed to produce HALEU, which makes Centrus a critical node in the supply chain for advanced reactors including X-energy's Xe-100 pebble bed design and other high-enrichment consumers. The $900 million DOE agreement — if it translates into deployed capacity on schedule — would materially de-risk the front end of the fuel cycle for domestic advanced reactor developers.

The analytical caveat: DOE agreements of this type have historically faced execution risk tied to appropriations timelines and contractor performance. The existence of the agreement matters; the pace of drawdown will matter more.

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## General Matter: Paducah Reborn as a Private Enrichment Site

General Matter cofounder Drew DeWalt offered the conference's most direct AI-to-enrichment causal chain: fuel is the bottleneck to nuclear; nuclear is the bottleneck to electricity; electricity is the bottleneck to AI. Therefore, fuel supply constrains AI infrastructure growth. The argument is simplified but directionally correct — data center operators now routinely cite dispatchable, carbon-free power as a procurement constraint, and nuclear is increasingly the answer.

The California-based startup signed a lease with DOE's Office of Environmental Management for a 100-acre parcel at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. The Paducah site enriched uranium from 1952 to 2013, making it the last government-owned enrichment facility to operate in the U.S. General Matter and DOE-EM are also exploring potential use of the Fuel and Materials Examination Facility at Hanford, Washington.

What General Matter has not yet disclosed publicly: the enrichment technology it plans to deploy, its capitalization, or a timeline to commercial operations. For a site with this much industrial heritage and regulatory history, those details will determine whether this lease becomes a facility or a footnote.

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## Global Laser Enrichment: Silex Technology and a 2030 Target

Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) is the most technically novel player on the panel. The company filed its NRC license application for the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility in July 2025, proposing to commercialize the Silex laser-based uranium enrichment process developed at its North Carolina headquarters.

The business model is distinctive: GLE would re-enrich depleted uranium hexafluoride tails stored at the Paducah site, recovering the residual U-235 content that conventional enrichment economics left behind.

VP for government relations Nima Ashkeboussi said significant construction is targeted for 2027, with facility completion expected by 2030. He described the project as having been, at one point, the largest investment in western Kentucky history — a designation since eclipsed by a data center project.

"I think we have the technology that can unlock the valuable 235 that's still in those tails," Ashkeboussi said. "We can do it in an economic fashion. The market has changed significantly."

The skeptical read: laser enrichment has been technically promising for decades without achieving commercial scale anywhere in the world. The Silex process is proprietary and NRC review of the license application will be the first rigorous public stress-test of the technology's deployability. GLE's 2030 target assumes both a favorable NRC outcome and construction execution on a novel process — two independent risks that compound each other.

The bullish read: tails re-enrichment from existing Paducah stockpiles sidesteps mining supply constraints entirely, and a functioning laser enrichment plant would have dramatically lower energy and capital intensity than gas centrifuge at scale.

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## What This Means for the Broader Industry

The Global 2026 panel represents something the U.S. fuel cycle has lacked for 30 years: genuine competitive pluralism at the enrichment layer. Four distinct companies — gas centrifuge incumbent expansion, HALEU specialist, greenfield lease, and laser technology newcomer — are advancing simultaneously, with varying technology readiness levels and capital structures.

The structural risk is sequencing. Advanced reactor deployments generating HALEU demand remain years away from firm fuel offtake volumes. Neumayr's admission at Urenco — that demand forecasts for advanced fuels remain unclear — applies equally to every company on that panel. Enrichers are being asked to commit capital ahead of confirmed reactor construction schedules, which creates a timing mismatch that DOE agreements, like the $900 million Centrus deal, are specifically designed to bridge.

The geopolitical forcing function — reducing dependence on Russian enriched uranium while Europe and the U.S. simultaneously expand their reactor fleets — provides a demand floor that pure market economics might not. Whether that floor is high enough, and arrives on schedule, will determine which of these four projects reaches commercial operation and which becomes a cautionary case study in FOAK infrastructure.

Paducah, notably, is emerging as a dual-company enrichment hub with both GLE and General Matter targeting the same former DOD site. If both execute, the site's transition from gaseous diffusion legacy to private-sector laser and centrifuge enrichment would be one of the more consequential industrial repurposing stories in U.S. nuclear history.

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## Key Takeaways

- **Urenco USA** is adding 2.1 million SWU of gas centrifuge capacity at Eunice, N.M., targeting more than 7 million SWU annually by 2036, with DOE Secretary Chris Wright attending the groundbreaking.
- **Centrus Energy** secured a DOE agreement valued at $900 million for HALEU expansion at Piketon, Ohio, and signed a new contract with X-energy this month to support that program.
- **General Matter** signed a lease for 100 acres at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; enrichment technology and timeline remain undisclosed.
- **Global Laser Enrichment** filed its NRC license application in July 2025 and targets construction in 2027 and facility completion by 2030 using the Silex laser enrichment process on Paducah tails.
- The U.S. enrichment market share collapsed from 64 percent in 1985 to less than 1 percent by 2024; Russia now holds 43 percent.
- Advanced reactor fuel demand uncertainty — acknowledged by Urenco's head of government affairs — remains the primary commercial risk across all four programs.
- Paducah, Ky. is consolidating as the likely center of gravity for new U.S. enrichment investment, with two companies now targeting the same former DOE site.

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## Frequently Asked Questions

**What is the current U.S. share of global uranium enrichment capacity?**
As of 2024, the U.S. holds less than 1 percent of global uranium enrichment capacity, down from 64 percent in 1985. Russia currently controls approximately 43 percent, according to Centrus Energy VP Dan Leistikow speaking at Global 2026.

**What is Urenco USA's enrichment capacity expansion plan?**
Urenco USA broke ground this week on an expansion at its Eunice, New Mexico facility that will add 2.1 million SWU of gas centrifuge capacity, growing total site output to more than 7 million SWU annually by 2036. The facility's NRC license allows up to 10 million SWU.

**What is the Centrus DOE HALEU agreement worth?**
Centrus Energy reached a DOE agreement valued at $900 million this summer to support expanded HALEU production capacity at its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio — the only U.S. facility currently licensed to produce HALEU.

**What is Global Laser Enrichment's Silex technology?**
Silex is a laser-based uranium enrichment process that GLE is working to commercialize. The company filed an NRC license application in July 2025 for its Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility, which would re-enrich depleted uranium hexafluoride tails stored at the Paducah site. GLE targets facility completion by 2030.

**Why is Paducah, Kentucky becoming a uranium enrichment hub?**
The former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant — which enriched uranium from 1952 to 2013 — holds large stockpiles of depleted uranium tails and existing DOE infrastructure. Both Global Laser Enrichment and General Matter are now pursuing enrichment operations at the site under separate DOE lease arrangements.