Urenco to supply fuel for Westinghouse microreactor

"This is a key step in building our capabilities to supply advanced nuclear fuels," said Tarik Choho, president of nuclear fuel at Westinghouse. "Urenco is a valued supplier of enriched uranium. They will play an important role in providing nuclear fuel for our eVinci microreactor, which is a safe, simple and economical clean-energy solution for a range of industries like remote mining, data centres, and off-grid communities."

"Urenco is committed to powering the nuclear reactors of today and tomorrow with enriched uranium," said Laurent Odeh, chief commercial officer for Urenco. "We are proud to sign this agreement-in-principle with our partner Westinghouse to enable their eVinci microreactor, which will make clean and reliable energy available 24/7 anywhere."

Westinghouse says the factory-built eVinci reactor - which has very few moving parts - works essentially as a battery, providing the versatility for power systems ranging from several kilowatts to 5 megawatts of electricity. It can also produce high temperature heat suitable for industrial applications, including alternative fuel production such as hydrogen, and has the flexibility to balance renewable output.

High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) - uranium enriched to between 5% and 20% uranium-235 - will be used in the advanced nuclear fuel required for most of the next-generation reactor designs currently under development. At present, only Russia and China have the infrastructure to produce HALEU at scale.

In 2023, Urenco was awarded GBP9.5 million (USD12.4 million) by the UK government from its GBP50 million Nuclear Fuel Fund to help develop low enriched uranium + (LEU+) and HALEU enrichment capability at its Capenhurst site in Cheshire, England.