The Department of Energy awarded $2.7 billion in January 2026 to restore domestic uranium enrichment capacity, splitting the program across three companies at $900 million each. The awards run over a ten year horizon and release against defined construction and production milestones rather than as lump sum payments.
American Centrifuge Operating, a Centrus Energy subsidiary, received a $900 million fixed-price task order to establish commercial-scale high-assay low-enriched uranium production at its Piketon, Ohio facility. HALEU is required by most advanced reactor designs and is currently produced at commercial scale only outside the United States.
General Matter received a $900 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to build and operate HALEU enrichment capacity at the Paducah site in Kentucky, serving both commercial and government fuel requirements.
Orano Federal Services directed its award toward Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the company is developing Project Ike, a low-enriched uranium enrichment facility carrying a total project cost near $5 billion.
The program targets the supply gap created by the wind down of Russian nuclear fuel imports. United States reactors consume roughly 50 million pounds of uranium annually while importing approximately 95 percent of the supply, and enrichment capacity has been the narrowest point in the domestic chain.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy - https://www.energy.gov/articles/us-department-energy-awards-27-billion-restore-american-uranium-enrichment