Due to the recent actions of Russia with Ukraine, Urenco has announce their plans to increase capacity at their Eunice, New Mexico facility in North America. They plan to limit installation to only operating commercial uranium enrichment.
Back in March 2015, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license amendment allowing Urenco to expand its Eunice enrichment plant. The amendment was related to Louisiana Energy Services, LLC intentions of expanding its
enrichment capacity at their Eunice, New Mexico facility by adding three new separation building modules and associated support facilities. This would involve a phased approach over the next several years.
These expansion plans will increase enrichment production capacity by seven hundred tonnes of separative work units per year, with the first new cascades online in 2025. The plant currently has a production capacity of 4600 tSWU’s per
year and plans to eventually produce ten million tSWU’s.
NOTE: A ton and a tonne may sound alike but they are different. Although both refer to a unit of mass. A ton is an imperial unit of mass equivalent to 2,240 lbs or 1,016.047 kg, while a toonne is a metric unit of mass equivalent to 2,204.6 lbs or 1,000 kg.
According to Urenco’s CEO, Boris Schucht, “Urenco is committed to supporting customers with their energy security and carbon reduction needs and this investment is a further sign of the exciting momentum behind nuclear, a dependable and
low-carbon source that can maintain baseload energy and help us achieve net-zero. We have the licenses, designs, technology, and proven capability to expand our capacity, and we are already seeing an increase in demand for our services from existing customers and new ones. As a leading enrichment company in the Western world, we have a duty to respond to the needs of the market. We will continue to monitor, forecast and support our customers and governments as we look to take further investment decisions across our enrichment sites.”
Urenco also operates three enrichment facilities in Europe: Capenhurst in the UK, Almelo in the Netherlands, and Gronau in Germany.
