In another sign of increased interest in nuclear power and the infrastructure needed to support it, Fluor Corp. has been selected as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the expansion of the Centrus Energy uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio, the company announced.
Under a multi-year contract awarded by Centrus subsidiary American Centrifuge Operating LLC, Fluor will support the production of added low-enriched uranium and low-enriched uranium testing at the plant. The work includes engineering and design for capacity expansion, procurement of materials and services, construction management and commissioning support.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
The project is part of a broader multibillion-dollar public-private investment to install thousands of additional centrifuges at the Piketon site, formerly owned by the federal government for the enrichment of uranium used for nuclear weapons and commercial power. It closed in 2001 and is now being retrofitted to support advanced nuclear technology. In January, tthe US Department of Energy granted three task orders totaling $2.7 billion to three companiesincluding American Centrifuge Operating, which seeks to expand domestic production of enriched uranium to boost the US nuclear power sector.
Low-enriched uranium and high-enriched low-enriched uranium are forms of nuclear fuel differentiated by the concentration of the fissile isotope uranium-235. Both are used for civilian nuclear power generation, not for nuclear weapons, but serve different reactor technologies.
“This project secures Fluor’s pivotal position in the critical U.S. uranium enrichment market by supporting the re-establishment of a national low-enriched uranium and low-enriched uranium assay capability,” Al Collins, president of Fluor’s Mission Solutions business group, said in a statement.
“This project is unique because it not only supports America’s fuel enrichment mission, which is critical to national security, but also has an interesting technical design,” said Bob Smith, senior vice president of Fluor’s nuclear and environmental business.
The expansion is expected to position Centrus as a leading national supplier of low-enriched uranium for existing nuclear reactors, while significantly increasing its ability to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium, a fuel needed for many advanced nuclear reactor designs under development, the company said.
The Piketon facility is one of only two licensed low-enriched uranium production facilities in the United States and the only licensed high-assay low-enriched uranium production facility in the Western world, according to American Centrifuge Operating.
The project is expected to bring more than 1,300 jobs to Ohio during construction and operations.
