Orano secures $900 million for a uranium enrichment plant in the United States

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $2.7 billion on Monday, 5 January, to three companies to revive uranium enrichment capabilities on U.S. soil. Orano will receive one third of this amount to develop an enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The year 2026 is getting off to a strong start for Orano. On Monday, 5 January, the U.S. Department of Energy unveiled the three projects selected by the federal government to develop new uranium enrichment capacities domestically. The French nuclear fuel group was awarded $900 million, enabling it to deploy an enrichment facility at the Oak Ridge site in Tennessee. This funding will cover part of the $5 billion total investment required for the project, known as IKE.

“This is excellent news for Orano and a decisive step forward for our uranium enrichment plant project in the United States,” said Nicolas Maes, Chief Executive Officer of Orano, in a statement released the same day. “This recognition by U.S. authorities illustrates the confidence placed in our expertise and in our ability to put our technology at the service of strengthening our customers’ security of supply.” With this investment secured, Orano is expected to finalise the contract and submit a licence application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) during the first half of 2026.

Reviving a domestic industrial capability

Orano presented this project in September 2024, at a time when the United States was seeking to reduce its dependence on imports of enriched uranium. Washington subsequently launched a call for tenders to purchase enriched uranium and banned imports of Russian-origin material.

The United States has set itself the objective of quadrupling its nuclear power generation capacity by 2050, which would require a twelve-fold increase in domestic enrichment volumes, reaching 60 million separative work units (SWU). According to Orano, current U.S. demand stands at 15 million SWU, while existing domestic capacity amounts to just 5 million SWU. The IKE project, which is expected to create 300 jobs, represents the largest investment in the history of the state of Tennessee.

American Centrifuge Operating, a subsidiary of Centrus, and General Matter will also each receive $900 million to support projects producing high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), enriched between 5% and 20%. Their respective projects are located in Piketon, Ohio, and Paducah, Kentucky. Orano is therefore the only awardee targeting the production of conventional low-enriched uranium (between 3% and 5%), which currently fuels the 94 nuclear reactors operating in the United States.

A complement to Georges Besse II

This project forms part of Orano’s broader strategy to increase its uranium enrichment capacities worldwide. In France, the group launched construction work in October 2024 to extend its Georges Besse II enrichment plant at the Tricastin site. With an estimated investment of €1.7 billion, Orano expects to increase its current production capacity of 7.5 million SWU by around 30%. “Thanks to this industrial asset, Orano currently holds 12% of global uranium enrichment capacity,” the group recalls. These capacity increases are intended to offset reliance on Russian enrichment services, which currently account for 46% of global production through Rosatom. According to Orano’s indicative schedule, the first batches of enriched uranium produced by the Georges Besse II extension are expected to be delivered as early as 2028. ■