Urenco To Fuel Advanced Reactor Deployment – News – Nuclear Power News – Nuclear Street

U.S.-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), a developer of fourth-generation gas-cooled microreactors, and Urenco USA, operated by Louisiana Energy Services LLC, announced an enrichment services supply agreement as part of the fuel supply program for USNC’s Micro-Modular Reactor.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation will purchase enriched uranium product (EUP) from Urenco USA for use in the manufacture of Tri-structural Isotropic (TRISO) particles and Fully Ceramic Micro-encapsulated fuel via USNC’s planned joint venture with Framatome in the United States. The EUP will be produced and supplied by the Urenco USA uranium enrichment facility located in New Mexico. This purchase marks the first commercial supply of EUP for use in an advanced reactor anywhere in the world.

Louisiana Energy Services is the only U.S. commercial producer supplying uranium enrichment services

Terms and details of the supply agreement are commercially confidential, but Ultra Safe said the agreement strengthens the company’s vertical integration across the value chain to maximize competitive advantage and reduce risk by securing sufficient quantities of EUP to support MMR active deployments.

“We’ve been working hard to manage and de-risk the front end of our fuel cycle,” said Kurt Terrani, Executive Vice President at Ultra Safe Nuclear. “With others facing so much uncertainty regarding fuel supply, it is vital to have reliable commercial partners to source, transport, and deconvert our EUP, feeding our fuel factory operations.”

“UUSA is preparing to supply the fuels that will be required by the next generation of advanced reactors,” said Karen Fili, President and Chief Executive Officer at Urenco USA. “By leveraging our U.S. infrastructure and highly skilled workforce, UUSA is well-positioned to supply enriched uranium product to fuel those reactors, as needed by the market and supported by long-term supply agreements.”

This first batch of EUP is slated for delivery to the USNC-Framatome fuel manufacturing joint venture in 2025, coinciding with the start of their TRISO and FCM fuel factory operations. This fuel production capacity will be used to fuel USNC’s MMR deployments with some availability to the wider advanced reactor market.

The MMR Energy System is a fourth-generation nuclear energy system that delivers safe, clean, and cost-effective electricity and process heat to users anywhere. The MMR is being licensed in Canada and the U.S. and will be the first commercially available “nuclear battery.” MMR deployments are moving forward, including the projects at Chalk River which is on target for first power in 2026, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, targeted for first power the following year.