Centrus Energy

{{Short description|American nuclear fuel supply company}} {{Infobox company

| |name = Centrus Energy Corp. |logo = Centrus.png |type = Public |traded_as = NYSE: [https://www.nyse.com/quote/XNYS:LEU LEU] |caption = |founded = 1992 (as USEC) |hq_location = Bethesda, Maryland United States |key_people = Amir Vexler, President and CEO <ref>{{cite web|title=Centrus Officers|url=http://www.centrusenergy.com/company/officers|access-date=March 24, 2026}}</ref> |num_employees = 266 (in 2021)<ref name="phx.corporate-ir.net">{{cite web |url=https://investors.centrusenergy.com/static-files/725397f5-45a4-463b-ae3a-15f5531021f9 |title=Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021 |publisher=Centrus Energy|date=March 11, 2022}}</ref> |industry = Nuclear Fuel |products = Nuclear fuel and services |owner = |revenue = $298.3 million (2021)<ref name="phx.corporate-ir.net"/> |net_income = $175.0 million (2021)<ref name="phx.corporate-ir.net"/> |assets = $572.4 million (2021)<ref name="phx.corporate-ir.net"/> |website = {{URL|https://www.centrusenergy.com/|centrusenergy.com}} }}

'''Centrus Energy Corp.''' (formerly '''USEC Inc.''') is an American company that supplies nuclear fuel for use in nuclear power plants and works to develop and deploy centrifuge technology to produce enriched uranium for commercial and government uses, including for national security.

In 2019, Centrus began work under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to build a cascade of 16 centrifuges in Piketon, Ohio to demonstrate production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium, or HALEU.<ref name="powermag.com">{{cite web |last1=Patel |first1=Sonal |title=Centrus Gets NRC Approval to Demonstrate HALEU Production |url=https://www.powermag.com/centrus-gets-nrc-approval-to-demonstrate-haleu-production/ |website=Power |date=17 June 2021 |publisher=Power Mag}}</ref> HALEU is required for many next generation reactor designs, including nine of the ten reactor designs selected under the Energy Department's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Day |first=Paul |date=March 22, 2022 |title=US urges haste on domestic HALEU plan as Russia faces isolation |url=https://www.reutersevents.com/nuclear/us-urges-haste-domestic-haleu-plan-russia-faces-isolation |website=Reuters Events |publisher=Reuters}}</ref>

In June 2021, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license amendment request for Centrus to enrich uranium up to a uranium-235 concentration of 20 percent, making it the first U.S. facility licensed for HALEU production. This is higher than the 5 percent level found in low-enriched uranium that is used in existing light-water reactors.<ref name="powermag.com"/>

==History== The Energy Policy Act of 1992 created the United States Enrichment Corporation out of the Department of Energy as a state owned enterprise to enrich uranium for civilian use, and in July 1993 USEC took over DOE facilities. USEC was fully privatized by the U.S. government on July 28, 1998, through an initial public offering. The U.S. government received about three billion dollars for USEC.<ref name="centrus history">{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.centrusenergy.com/who-we-are/history/ |website=Centrus Energy Corp}}</ref>

USEC had gaseous diffusion plants at Piketon, Ohio near Portsmouth and in McCracken County, Kentucky, near Paducah. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission assumed regulatory authority over the Portsmouth facility in March 1997 and on June 5, 1998, the agency made an investigation into alleged "failure to control components with uranium deposits, inadequate maintenance, testing and operation of safety valves on equipment, and exceeding the possession limit for uranium enriched greater than 20 percent."<ref>United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 29 May 1998. (Press Release). [https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/1998/98-036iii.html NRC website] Retrieved 8 November 2019.</ref> In May 2001, USEC ceased uranium enrichment operations in Piketon and consolidated operations in Paducah, Kentucky. The following year, transfer and shipping operations were also consolidated at Paducah.<ref name="centrus history"/>

A demonstration gas centrifuge plant was being built at Piketon for initial commercial operation in 2009, while a full-sized plant was planned for operation there in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wise-uranium.org/epusecc.html|title=USEC Portsmouth "American Centrifuge Plant" project, USA|publisher=wise-uranium.org|access-date=21 September 2014}}</ref> However, in July 2009 the DOE did not grant a $2 billion loan guarantee for the planned uranium-enrichment facility in Piketon, "causing the initiative to go into financial meltdown," the USEC spokesperson Elizabeth Stuckle said, adding "we are now forced to initiate steps to demobilize the project."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/29/Piketon29.ART_ART_07-29-09_A1_VBEK453.html?sid=101|title=Dispatch Politics|work=The Columbus Dispatch|access-date=21 September 2014|archive-date=10 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710133508/http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/29/Piketon29.ART_ART_07-29-09_A1_VBEK453.html?sid=101|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/07/27/daily41.html|title=USEC loan guarantee application rejected; shares plunge|work=Washington Business Journal|access-date=21 September 2014}}</ref>

On July 28, 2009, the company said that it was suspending work on the project because of the Department of Energy's decision not to provide loan guarantees. The Energy Department said that the proposed plant was not ready for commercial production and therefore ineligible for the loan guarantees. The department said that if USEC withdraws its application, it will receive $45 million over the next 18 months to conduct further research.

Before its downsizing and final cessation of uranium enrichment on May 31, 2013, the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant consumed about 3,000 megawatts of electricity at peak operation.<ref name=Paducah-end>{{cite web|last=Sea|first=Geoffrey|title=Uranium Enrichment Ends at Paducah (Part 3)|url=http://ecowatch.com/2013/breaking-uranium-enrichment-ends-at-paducah/|work=ecowatch|access-date=22 September 2013|date=May 31, 2013}}</ref> Power for the Paducah gaseous diffusion plant came from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In 2012 the majority of the TVA grid was generated by coal fired plants, with three nuclear power plants counting for about 30 percent of TVA's energy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nuclear Energy|url=http://www.tva.com/power/nuclear/index.htm|work=TVA|access-date=22 September 2013|date=November 2012|archive-date=31 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150831144829/http://www.tva.com/power/nuclear/index.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Department of Energy remains responsible for clean-up of the sites of materials left there prior to 1993.<ref name="centrus history"/>

USEC was the executive agent in the U.S./Russia Highly Enriched Uranium Purchase Agreement, implemented under the Megatons to Megawatts Program.<ref name="centrus history"/>

On December 16, 2013, USEC announced that it had reached an agreement with a majority of its debt holders to file a prearranged and voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring in the first quarter of 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=USEC Inc. Reaches Agreement with Noteholder Group sus To Move Forward with Balance Sheet Restructuring|url=http://www.usec.com/news/usec-inc-reaches-agreement-noteholder-group-move-forward-balance-sheet-restructuring|work=USEC|access-date=17 December 2013|date=16 December 2013|archive-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113225552/http://www.usec.com/news/usec-inc-reaches-agreement-noteholder-group-move-forward-balance-sheet-restructuring|url-status=dead}}</ref> On September 30, 2014, executives announced that the company had emerged from bankruptcy proceedings with a new name, Centrus Energy Corp.<ref>{{cite news |last=Overly|first=Steven|title=Centrus Energy, formerly known as USEC, emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=30 September 2014|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/centrus-energy-formerly-known-as-usec-emerges-from-chapter-11-bankruptcy/2014/09/30/df84fde4-48bc-11e4-891d-713f052086a0_story.html|access-date=24 October 2014}}</ref>

On March 5, 2015, the Centrus Board of Directors appointed Daniel B. Poneman as president and chief executive officer and as a director of the company, effective on or before April 1, 2015.<ref>{{cite web |title=form8-K_20150311 |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065059/000106505915000006/form8-k_20150311.htm |website=www.sec.gov |publisher=SEC}}</ref>

In October 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a report to Congress which evaluated options to resume U.S.-technology enrichment operations to meet U.S. national security mission needs. The report concluded that Centrus' AC100 centrifuge technology was "the most technically advanced and lowest-risk option."<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Department of Energy, Tritium and Enriched Uranium Management Plan Through 2060 |date=27 October 2015 |url=https://fissilematerials.org/library/2015/10/tritium_and_enriched_uranium_m.html}}</ref>

Subsequent to signing the contract with the Department of Energy in 2019, to build the HALEU demonstration plant, Centrus signed a series of agreements with advanced reactor developers including TerraPower,<ref>{{cite web |title=TerraPower and Centrus team up for HALEU production |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001065059/000106505922000012/leu-20211231.htm |publisher=World Nuclear News}}</ref> X-Energy,<ref>{{cite web |title=X-energy and Centrus to continue work of TRISO-X fuel - Nuclear Engineering International |url=https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsx-energy-and-centrus-to-continue-work-of-triso-x-fuel-9224418 |website=www.neimagazine.com |date=5 November 2021 |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International}}</ref> and Oklo,<ref>{{cite web |title=Oklo and Centrus team up for HALEU supply chain : Uranium & Fuel - World Nuclear News |url=https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Oklo-and-Centrus-team-up-for-HALEU-supply-chain |website=www.world-nuclear-news.org |publisher=World Nuclear News}}</ref> to support the availability of HALEU.

After several years of losses, on March 28, 2021, the company announced that it returned to profitability in 2020 as a result of declining supply costs and other factors. The company reported positive net income of $54 million in 2020 and $175 million in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Centrus Form 10-K 2021 |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001065059/000106505922000012/leu-20211231.htm |website=www.sec.gov |publisher=SEC}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Official website|https://www.centrusenergy.com/}} *[http://www.centrusenergy.com/gaseous-diffusion/paducah-gdp/paducah-history Paducah plant history on Centrus site] *[https://archive.today/20130923072542/http://www.emcbc.doe.gov/pgdp%20deactivation/ Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Deactivation Project, Home Page (US DOE)] *[http://www.pppo.energy.gov U.S. Department of Energy's Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office - or pppo.energy.gov] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928041629/http://www.pppo.energy.gov/ |date=2013-09-28 }} *[https://archive.today/20130928000340/http://www.wise-uranium.org/epusec.html Uranium Enrichment Current Issues, USEC Paducah and Portsmouth plants, USA. (WISE Uranium Project, World Information Service on Energy, www.wiseinternational.org)] *[http://www.wise-uranium.org/edusa.html#PADUCAH Paducah gaseous diffusion enrichment plant (Kentucky) - Decommissioning Issues (wise-uranium.org/ page)] *[http://www.wise-uranium.org/edusa.html#PORTS Portsmouth gaseous diffusion enrichment plant (Ohio) - Decommissioning Issues (wise-uranium.org/ page)]

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Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Category:Non-renewable resource companies established in 1992 Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014 Category:Nuclear technology in the United States Category:Companies based in Bethesda, Maryland Category:Nuclear fuel companies Category:Government-owned companies of the United States