On 5 January 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $2.7 billion contract with American Centrifuge Operating, General Matter and Orano Federal Services to expand uranium-enrichment plants in Ohio, South Carolina and New Mexico, securing fuel for the nation’s nuclear power stations and loosening a decades-long reliance on Russian supplies.
The multibillion-dollar package, scheduled for disbursement over the next several years, represents the most ambitious federal push since the Cold War to rebuild every stage of the domestic nuclear-fuel cycle. The program supports the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for today’s large light-water reactors and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for smaller advanced reactors that utilities plan to deploy later this decade, aiming to replace Russian imports before a statutory ban expected in 2028.
Federal officials framed the move as both an energy-security imperative and a climate-policy tool. Russia currently controls roughly 40 percent of global enrichment capacity and is the only commercial-scale supplier of HALEU. By guaranteeing long-term demand for U.S. facilities, the DOE aims to break that monopoly, create a new domestic market for uranium mined in Wyoming, Utah and Texas, and support President Joe Biden’s target of a carbon-free power sector by 2035.
Details of the awards
According to a DOE procurement notice cited by Reuters, each of the three winning companies will receive a share of the $2.7 billion to expand or complete centrifuge cascades capable of enriching natural uranium into reactor-grade fuel. American Centrifuge Operating, a subsidiary of Centrus Energy, will scale up its pilot HALEU plant in Piketon, Ohio. General Matter plans to retrofit an existing facility near Barnwell, South Carolina, while Orano Federal Services intends to revive an idled site outside Eunice, New Mexico. The contracts cover construction costs, operating expenses and multiyear offtake agreements that guarantee the DOE will purchase a baseline quantity of material once the plants are running.
What the money buys
Congress first authorized the enrichment program in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. DOE officials say roughly one-third of the current allotment will finance engineering and civil works, and two-thirds will be reserved for enriched product—effectively a forward purchase that private utilities can later match. A portion of each award earmarked for research will support improvements in centrifuge efficiency, development of laser-based enrichment and faster licensing timelines at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Fuels for the reactors of tomorrow
HALEU, enriched to between 5 percent and 20 percent uranium-235, is essential for more than a dozen small modular reactor designs awaiting construction permits. Without a U.S. producer, the first wave of SMRs faced delays or higher costs tied to Russian supply. DOE officials told WCNC that the new funding will jump-start commercial HALEU output by 2027, one year before the anticipated embargo deadline.
Three firms, three approaches
The trio of recipients brings different technologies to the table, a point stressed in the DOE’s fact sheet cited by The Oregon Group. American Centrifuge Operating will build on U.S.-designed AC-100M machines; General Matter, a newcomer backed by venture investors, is adapting smaller, modular centrifuges it says can be mass-produced; Orano Federal Services will import proven European hardware while training a domestic workforce. Together, the three facilities are projected to deliver at least six metric tons of HALEU a year—enough to fuel two to three first-generation SMRs—and up to 15 percent of the LEU required by the existing reactor fleet.
Why Russian supply still matters—for now
Even after the contracts are signed, construction and licensing will take several years. During that window, U.S. utilities will continue to source roughly a quarter of their enriched uranium from Russia under long-term contracts signed before Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Lawmakers in both parties have called for a faster phase-out; the DOE counters that an abrupt cutoff could force reactors to curtail output and jeopardize grid reliability. The 2028 deadline is thus calibrated to line up with the first commercial deliveries from the new facilities.
Bridging a bottleneck in the fuel cycle
Uranium miners in the American West have long complained that the absence of a domestic enrichment market discourages investment. Ore extracted in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin or Utah’s White Mesa mill typically travels overseas for conversion and enrichment before returning as finished fuel assemblies—an arrangement that adds cost and logistical risk. By effectively guaranteeing a local customer, the DOE contracts are expected to stimulate new mining and conversion capacity, creating a more self-contained supply chain.
Economic and industrial ripple effects
Industry analysts say the policy functions as a price floor for enrichment services, reducing financial risk for plant builders and, by extension, for uranium producers. Shares of publicly traded miners such as Cameco and Energy Fuels rose in the days following the announcement, reflecting expectations of higher long-term demand and firmer pricing. If successful, the program could restore several thousand high-wage jobs lost when the last government-owned enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky, closed in 2013.
Environmental and security stakes
Nuclear power supplies about 19 percent of U.S. electricity and more than half of its carbon-free output. Maintaining that share—or expanding it with SMRs—is central to federal decarbonization goals. From a national-security perspective, the war in Ukraine underscored the vulnerability of relying on an adversary for a strategic commodity. The United States already bans Russian oil, coal and liquefied natural gas; uranium is the last energy exemption. Officials argue that building enrichment capacity at home closes a major loophole in sanctions policy and fortifies the grid against geopolitical shocks.
Next milestones
Under the contracts’ baseline schedule, the three companies must reach 20 percent of nameplate capacity within 24 months, submit operating license amendments within 30 months and achieve full output no later than 2032. The DOE will conduct quarterly progress reviews tied to performance payments. Failure to meet critical-path targets triggers claw-back clauses that return unused funds to the Treasury—a safeguard meant to prevent the cost overruns that plagued earlier nuclear projects.
Limited but growing global competition
While European consortium Urenco operates enrichment plants in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and New Mexico, the company currently produces only LEU and at volumes already contracted through 2030. Japan and South Korea run small domestic facilities primarily for research reactors. China has expanded its enrichment fleet at a rapid pace, but the United States considers that supply off-limits for national-security reasons. The DOE, therefore, sees its program as filling a void rather than duplicating existing commercial capacity.
Analysis: what comes next
If the initiative delivers on its timeline, the United States will have the pieces in place—mining, conversion, enrichment and fabrication—to supply a new generation of reactors without foreign inputs. That autonomy could, in turn, make American SMR designs more attractive to allies wary of Russian fuel. On the flip side, critics note that past federal attempts to revive enrichment—most notably the American Centrifuge Project canceled in 2015—ran aground on cost overruns and shifting political winds. Success will depend on sustained bipartisan funding and a regulatory regime that can process license applications faster than in the past.
Beyond questions of execution, the program illustrates a broader shift in U.S. energy policy: after years of relying on market forces to set the fuel mix, Washington is once again using industrial policy to steer outcomes it considers strategic. With the same logic now guiding federal support for batteries, semiconductors and hydrogen, uranium enrichment may serve as an early test case of how effectively the government can rebuild critical supply chains that migrated overseas.
Sources
- https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-awards-27-billion-worth-orders-boost-uranium-enrichment-2026-01-05/
- https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/nation-world/energy-department-invest-billions-rebuild-us-uranium-enrichment/507-7669f64e-a095-46f2-aec7-442593589194
- https://theoregongroup.com/commodities/uranium/us-plans-2-7-billion-investment-to-restore-uranium-enrichment/
