The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has opened a contested hearing opportunity on Orano Enrichment USA's application to build a centrifuge uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. A Federal Register notice published August 12, 2026 carried a commission order and started a 60-day window for members of the public to file a hearing request.
The project, called Project Ike, carries a price tag of about $5 billion. Orano plans to reenrich depleted uranium hexafluoride tails at the site and to enrich natural-grade uranium hexafluoride to a maximum of 8 weight percent uranium-235. That level sits above the roughly 5 percent used in most operating light water reactors and below the high-assay low-enriched uranium threshold.
If a contested hearing proceeds, the commission order says the licensing board "should manage the schedule such that the overall hearing process is completed within 315 days" of the notice. That timeline fits the NRC's stated goal of finishing its review in 12 months. Comparable enrichment reviews have historically run 18 to 20 months.
Commissioner Matthew J. Marzano objected in comments appended to the notice. "The order rests on an overly permissive reading of Section 193 that I do not share," he wrote. Section 193 of the Atomic Energy Act directs the commission to conduct a single adjudicatory hearing on the record for enrichment facility licensing. Marzano added, "Until Congress amends Section 193, we remain bound by its text." No other commissioner filed comments.
Orano submitted the application in March 2026. The NRC accepted it for detailed technical review on May 21 and is preparing a safety evaluation report and a final environmental impact statement.
Source: Nuclear Newswire - https://www.ans.org/news/2026-08-20/article-8311/nrc-opens-defines-hearing-opportunity-for-oranos-project-ike/