Early this week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $2.7 billion in funding to support domestic uranium enrichment for nuclear energy. Three companies will receive $900 million each as part of the department’s effort to shift the U.S. uranium supply away from foreign sources and strengthen domestic production. The selected companies are American Centrifuge Operating, General Matter and Orano Federal Services. American Centrifuge Operating owns and operates the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.

In December 2025, American Centrifuge Operating announced plans to expand commercial production of low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium, materials used in different types of nuclear reactors. The company has a long-standing relationship with the Department of Energy and, in partnership with the agency, produced the nation’s first 20 kilograms of domestically sourced high-assay low-enriched uranium in 2023. Following that demonstration, the company was awarded a contract to produce an additional 900 kilograms by 2024. The newly announced funding is intended to support the commercialization of that production process. 1/8/2026