Urenco USA taking on expansion project
Michelle A. Fox/News-Sun
For the first time in seven years, Urenco USA is taking on an expansion project.
“This project marks the first expansion of the plant since 2016 and will allow us to increase our enriched uranium production by 15 percent,” said President and CEO of Urenco USA Karen Fill.
Urenco USA is the only operating commercial uranium enrichment facility on U.S. soil and is located just to the east of Eunice.
According to Lisa Hardison, manager of communications and public relations at UUSA, the expansion will not only increase enriched uranium production, but will also increase the number of jobs at the Lea County plant.
“Over the next few years, we anticipate that approximately 100 new jobs could be added at our facility,” Hardison said.
The expansion will not involve any new construction on the current facility, as it will occur within the current space of the building. To take on the expansion project, UUSA will use a combination of employees and their centrifuge providers.
“We will be utilizing our centrifuge supplier, Enrichment Technology Corporation to build-out and install the centrifuges for the capacity expansion,” Hardison said. “Other than ETC, the capacity expansion projects will be completed primarily by our current employees and contractors.”
The project is already underway at the plant, with the new cascades (a cascade is grouping of centrifuges) expected to be online by 2025, and final completion of the project is expected to happen by 2027.
According to Hardison, UUSA is already considering future expansion projects
“In addition to capacity expansion, UUSA is considering other strategic projects to expand our services to meet the growing market demands,” Hardison said.
UUSA has been operating near Eunice since 2010 and enriches uranium, which is a process in the commercial nuclear fuel cycle, according to Hardison. The enriched uranium is then used to put fuel rods into nuclear power plants that create electricity. Urenco USA currently produces one-third of the annual demand for enriched uranium in the US, according to its website
The UUSA facility is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and is also part of Urenco Global, an international supplier of enrichment services and fuel cycle products for the civil nuclear industry, serving utility customers worldwide who provide low carbon electricity through nuclear generation.
As utility companies nationwide are seeking to diversify fuel supplies with existing nuclear operations, the expansion will help meet this increasing demand. Demand has also increased for domestic enrichment services due to the geopolitical situation with Russia.
“We have the license, design, technology, and proven capability to expand our capacity to meet the increase in demand we are already seeing from our existing customers and new ones,” Fill said.
