Bethesda-based Orano USA receives $900 million from USDOE for uranium enrichment plant

Orano USA, the American division of the French nuclear fuel cycle corporation, has received a $900 million award from the United States Department of Energy to produce low-enriched uranium at its new U.S. enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Headquartered at 4747 Bethesda Avenue in downtown Bethesda, Orano USA is one of only three companies to receive the DOE funding, which totals $2.7 billion. The money is part of the Trump administration push to increase domestic uranium enrichment capacity, and increase nuclear energy production to support American leadership in artificial intelligence. America is working against time in this regard, as enriched uranium imports from Russia - one of our major suppliers - will be banned in 2028.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright

"President Trump is catalyzing a resurgence in the nation’s nuclear energy sector to strengthen American security and prosperity," U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement. "Today’s awards show that this Administration is committed to restoring a secure domestic nuclear fuel supply chain capable of producing the nuclear fuels needed to power the reactors of today and the advanced reactors of tomorrow."

Orano USA CEO Jean-Luc Palayer

"We are honored by DOE’s decision to identify Project IKE as a key driver for U.S. energy security," said Orano USA CEO Jean-Luc Palayer said Monday. "Orano’s Project IKE facility is designed to generate a secure and significant American-based supply of enriched uranium. For Orano, there is no mystery to making enriched uranium—and a lot of it—when you have reliable centrifuges, existing transport containers, and enrichment processes refined over decades of successful commercial operations."

Project IKE facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee 

Orano has exported enriched uranium from France to supply America's fleet of nuclear reactors for the last forty years. With the Tennessee facility, Orano USA will be able to continue to provide this stable supply domestically, with high-wage American jobs.