{{short description|European nuclear fuel company}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox company | name = Urenco Group Ltd | logo = | logo_caption = | type = [[Limited company]] | genre = | fate = | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = 1970 <!-- {{Start date|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | founder = | defunct = | location = Paddington, London, England<ref name=ouroffices>{{cite web | url = https://www.urenco.com/global-operations | title = Global Operations | publisher = Urenco | access-date = 22 October 2025}}</ref> | locations = | area_served = | key_people = | industry = Nuclear | products = [[Nuclear fuel|Fuel]] | services = [[Uranium enrichment]] | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = | assets = | equity = | owner = {{ubl|[[UK Government Investments]] (33%)|Ultra-Centrifuge Nederland (33%)|[[E.ON]] (16.5%)|[[RWE]] (16.5%)}} | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = {{Official URL}} | footnotes = | intl = }} The '''Urenco Group''' ('''urenco''') is a multi-national limited company with [[Share (finance)|shares and stocks]] majority owned by the governments of the [[Dutch government|Netherlands]] and the [[Government of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]] with minority shares controlled by German electric utilities [[E.ON]] and [[RWE]]. The Urenco Group operates several [[uranium enrichment]] plants in Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom.<ref>[https://www.urenco.com/global-operations/urenco-uk Urenco UK]</ref> It supplies nuclear power stations in about 15 countries, and states that it had a 29% share of the global market for enrichment services in 2011.<ref name=urenco-about>{{cite web |url=http://urenco.com/about-us/business-activity/global-operations/ |title=Global Operations |publisher=Urenco |access-date=13 October 2014 |archive-date=16 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016130821/http://www.urenco.com/about-us/business-activity/global-operations |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=urenco-2011>{{cite web |url=http://www.urenco.com/content/454/full-year-2011-audited-financial-results.aspx |title=Full Year 2011 Audited Financial Results |publisher=Urenco |access-date=14 September 2012 |archive-date=26 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826052425/http://www.urenco.com/content/454/full-year-2011-audited-financial-results.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> Urenco uses [[Zippe-type centrifuge|centrifuge]] enrichment technology.<ref name=Rothwell-2009>{{cite journal |url=http://www.princeton.edu/sgs/publications/sgs/archive/17-2-3-Rothwell.pdf |title=Market Power in Uranium Enrichment |author=Geoffrey Rothwell |journal=Science & Global Security |volume=17 |pages=132–154 |year=2009 |issue=2–3 |doi=10.1080/08929880903423586 |bibcode=2009S&GS...17..132R |s2cid=54768819 |access-date=14 September 2012}}</ref>
Urenco, headquartered in Paddington, [[London]] England, is owned one third by the UK government, one third by the Dutch government, and the final third equally by two major German utilities, [[E.ON]] and [[RWE]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9400655/Nuclear-sale-set-to-net-billions-for-UK.html|title=Nuclear sale set to net billions for UK|date=15 July 2012|work=The Telegraph}}</ref>
In the 1990s, Urenco diversified its activities and established Urenco Isotopes in the Netherlands to produce stable isotopes for medical, industrial and research applications.<ref>{{cite web |title=Urenco Isotopes |url=https://www.urenco.com/global-operations/urenco-isotopes |website=Urenco |access-date=19 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Urenco Isotopes |url=https://urencoisotopes.com/ |website=Urenco Isotopes |access-date=19 May 2026}}</ref>
==Group structure== === Ownership === Urenco is owned in three equal parts by Ultra-Centrifuge Nederland NV (owned by the [[Politics of the Netherlands|Government of the Netherlands]]), Uranit GmbH (owned equally by German energy companies [[E.ON]] and [[RWE]]) <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nrg-nl.com/public/abc/node697.html |title=ABC van kernenergie: Ultra-Centrifuge Nederland NV |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304193529/http://www.nrg-nl.com/public/abc/node697.html |archive-date=4 March 2008 }}</ref> and Enrichment Holdings Ltd (owned by the [[Government of the United Kingdom]] and managed by [[UK Government Investments]]).<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 May 2024 |title=Advanced fuels announcement |url=https://www.urenco.com/news/global/2024/advanced-fuels-announcement |website=Urenco}}</ref> The company was set up in 1971, pursuant to the Treaty of Almelo (named after [[Almelo|the city in the Netherlands]] where the company originated), which restricts the sale of ownership stakes.<ref name=urenco-history>{{cite web |url=http://www.urenco.com/content/16/history.aspx |title=History |publisher=Urenco |access-date=14 September 2012 |archive-date=6 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406214521/http://www.urenco.com/content/16/history.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=treaty-2005>{{cite news |url=http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm70/7046/7046.pdf |title=Agreement between the Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic regarding Collaboration in Centrifuge Technology |id=Cm 7046 |publisher=The Stationery Office |date=12 July 2005 |access-date=12 July 2013}}</ref>
===Subsidiaries=== [[File:Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven bezoekt Urenco, een tank uraniumhexafluoride (F6) in de gasbehandelingsruimte.jpg|thumb|October 1984, [[Pieter van Vollenhoven]] visits the tanks with [[Uranium hexafluoride]] (UF6) at Urenco in the Netherlands]]
Urenco Deutschland, Urenco UK, and Urenco Nederland are 100% subsidiaries of Urenco Enrichment Company. They operate enrichment plants at [[Gronau, North Rhine-Westphalia|Gronau]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia|Westphalia]], Germany, at [[Capenhurst nuclear site|Capenhurst]], England, and at [[Almelo]], Netherlands.<ref name=Rothwell-2009/>
In the United States, where Urenco is represented by its marketing subsidiary Urenco, Inc., the Urenco USA facility became operational in spring 2010. Called the [[National Enrichment Facility]], it is located {{convert|5|mi}} east of [[Eunice, New Mexico]], and is operated by Urenco's subsidiary Louisiana Energy Services (LES).<ref name=urenco-structure>{{cite web |url=http://urenco.com/about-us/company-structure/ |title=Company Structure |publisher=urenco.com}}</ref>
Urenco also owns a 50% interest in {{Interlanguage link|Enrichment Technology Company|nl}} (ETC), a company jointly owned with [[Areva]]. ETC provides enrichment-plant design services and gas-centrifuge technology for enrichment plants through its subsidiaries in the UK (Capenhurst), Germany (Gronau and Jülich), the Netherlands (Almelo), France (Tricastin) and the U.S. (Eunice, New Mexico).<ref name=urenco-structure/><ref name=nei-20250813>{{cite news |url=https://www.neimagazine.com/analysis/managing-urencos-centrifuges/?cf-view |title=Managing Urenco's centrifuges |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International |date=13 August 2025 |access-date=2 September 2025}}</ref>
In 2025, infrastructure company [[Costain Group]] was contracted to upgrade the infrastructure at the Capenhurst plant. This will enable establishing Europe's first [[high-assay low-enriched uranium]] (HALEU) enrichment facility.<ref name=nei-20250325>{{cite news |url=https://www.neimagazine.com/news/urencos-capenhurst-enrichment-facility-to-be-upgraded/ |title=Urenco's Capenhurst enrichment facility to be upgraded |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International |date=25 March 2025 |access-date=2 September 2025}}</ref>
== Decommissioning == Urenco Netherlands BV has dismantled enrichment plant SP3, after the [[Nuclear decommissioning|decommissioning]] of SP1 and SP2 in the 1980s and 1990s. Information about decommissioning cost calculations for Urenco facilities is not accessible.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wupperinst.org/uploads/tx_wiprojekt/EUDecommFunds_NL.pdf |title=EU Decommission Funds |publisher=wupperinst.org |access-date=12 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012212629/http://www.wupperinst.org/uploads/tx_wiprojekt/EUDecommFunds_NL.pdf |archive-date=12 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://epub.wupperinst.org/solrsearch/index/search/searchtype/simple/start/0/rows/10/query/EU+Decommission+Funds/sortfield/year_sort/sortorder/desc Linklist]</ref>
==Controversies== ===Abdul Qadeer Khan=== In the 1970s, [[Abdul Qadeer Khan]], who worked for a subcontractor of Urenco in [[Almelo]], brought the drawings of the centrifuges operated by Urenco to Pakistan by skipping the Urenco administration and the Dutch government. Those blueprints were stolen from the Urenco administration. In early 1974, Khan joined the [[Project-706]] uranium enrichment programme, launched by [[Munir Ahmad Khan]] under [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]], Pakistani Prime Minister at that time. Later, he took over the project, and established a facility that produced [[highly enriched uranium]] (HEU). Within a short span of time he established a highly advanced uranium enrichment facility near [[Islamabad]].<ref name="bbc">[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/6147208.stm The nuclear Walmart: Transcript] - BBC Panorama, 15 November 2006</ref>
===Namibia=== In May 1985, the [[United Nations Council for Namibia]] (UNCN) decided to take legal action against Urenco for breaching UNCN Decree No 1, which prohibited any exploitation of Namibia's natural resources under [[South Africa under apartheid|apartheid South Africa]], because Urenco had been importing uranium ore from the [[Rössing]] mine in Namibia. The case was expected to be ready by the end of 1985 but was delayed because Urenco argued that, despite having enriched uranium of Namibian origin since 1980, it was impossible to tell where specific consignments came from. When the case finally reached court in July 1986, the Dutch government took Urenco's line, claiming not to have known where the uranium had been mined.<ref>{{cite news |title=Council for Namibia sues Netherlands over Namibia's natural resources |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_n4_v24/ai_6272039/ |access-date=20 March 2010 |work=UN Chronicle |year=1987 }}</ref>
===Uranium tails contracts with Russia=== According to [[Greenpeace]], Urenco has a contract with Russia for the disposal of [[radioactive waste]]. In reality, these contracts do not relate to the disposal of waste, but to the sale of [[depleted uranium]] tails, which are re-enriched to [[natural uranium]] equivalent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2009/no_more_ur_tails |title=Rosatom says uranium tail contracts will not be renewed, citing economic infeasibility |publisher=bellona.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf28.html |title=World Nuclear Association: Uranium enrichment - section "Enrichment of depleted uranium tails" |publisher=world-nuclear.org |access-date=9 February 2012 |archive-date=2 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202112400/http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf28.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> As the enricher, Russia would be the owner of any radioactive waste that results from this process. In March 2009, there were protests about the largest-ever load of [[depleted uranium hexafluoride]] ('''{{chem2|[[Depleted uranium|DU]]F6}}''') being transported from Germany to the [[Siberia]]n town [[Seversk]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Germany|Nuclear technology}} * {{Official website}}
{{RWE}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Nuclear fuel companies]] [[Category:Nuclear technology companies of Germany]] [[Category:Nuclear technology companies of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Nuclear technology in the Netherlands]] [[Category:Government-owned companies of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Government-owned companies of the Netherlands]] [[Category:E.ON]] [[Category:RWE]] [[Category:Companies based in Buckinghamshire]] [[Category:South Bucks]] [[Category:1970 establishments]]