The Duck Curve#enrichment
DOE exits NRC environmental review of Orano's Oak Ridge enrichment plant
The Department of Energy withdrew on September 17, 2026 as a cooperating agency on the NRC's environmental impact statement for Orano Enrichment USA's Project IKE enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, saying it is identifying faster ways to amend the site's deed. Orano's information system security plan is dated September 21, its exemption deadline, and the NRC set a $4,543,024 fixed fee cap for the review.
NANO Nuclear agrees to buy NRC license for unbuilt New Mexico DUF6 plant
NANO Nuclear Energy said on October 1, 2026 that it agreed to buy Radnostix's assets for a never-built depleted uranium hexafluoride deconversion plant in Lea County, New Mexico, including NRC source material license SUB-1011, for $9.5 million in cash and $4.0 million in NANO stock at closing, expected in approximately 90 to 120 days subject to NRC consent to the license transfer and other conditions. The NRC issued the license in 2012; a 2025 application to transfer it to Green Salt Products was withdrawn in March 2026, and NANO says no final investment decision has been made.
Centrus signs HALEU supply contract for Radiant's Kaleidos microreactors
Centrus Energy said in a Form 8-K filed September 9, 2026 that it has signed a definitive multi-year contract to supply high-assay low-enriched uranium for multiple of Radiant Industries' Kaleidos microreactors, with deliveries scheduled to begin before the end of the decade and Radiant prepayments supporting Centrus's domestic commercial enrichment capacity program. The release gives no quantity or value. The same day Centrus priced a $500 million public offering of shares and warrants, its second enrichment contract with customer prepayments in five weeks after X-energy's on August 6.
CU Boulder preprint says SMR operating costs, not capex, drive poor returns
A preprint posted to arXiv on September 8, 2026 by Pradyumna Rao, Daniel T. Kaffine, and Bri-Mathias Hodge of the University of Colorado Boulder finds that fuel and operating costs, not investment costs, make small modular reactors uneconomical at manufacturer-advertised costs in US wholesale and capacity markets: almost all concepts have discounted payback periods longer than their technical lifetimes on energy revenue, 18 of 22 do not reach a 20-year payback at current production tax credit levels, and at advertised costs SMRs are about as profitable as advanced estimates of the AP1000.
US uranium output more than tripled in 2025 as enrichment plants line up
US uranium concentrate production more than tripled in 2025 to 2.1 million pounds of U3O8, the most since 2017, according to EIA data published August 28, 2026. The same day, the NRC published an order aligning hearing procedures for two pending uranium enrichment plant applications: Global Laser Enrichment's Paducah, Kentucky facility and Orano's Project IKE in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
