Latest News

General Matter signs lease agreement with US Department of Energy to enrich Uranium

General Matter, an American startup that hopes to enrich uranium to fuel nuclear reactors, has signed a lease agreement with the Department of Energy to build a facility in a former federal factory in Kentucky.

The project, which will cost $1.5 billion, will be located at the former Paducah gaseous diffusion plant. In the 1950s, the U.S. constructed the site to produce enriched Uranium initially for nuclear weapons. Later, the facility produced enriched Uranium for nuclear reactors. It closed in 2013.

DOE stated that construction is scheduled to start in 2026 and enrichment operations will begin before the end of the decade. The company estimates that the plant will create 140 permanent jobs.

Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter, said that reactivating this site would "power an era of American independence in energy." General Matter hosted a ceremony at Paducah, attended by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and U.S. Senators and Representatives, as well as DOE officials.

The company has not stated how much enriched Uranium it will be producing.

The U.S. relies heavily on foreign suppliers including Russia, even though Urenco, based in the UK, has the capacity to meet about a third (or more) of the U.S. needs for enriched uranium. The former president Joe Biden imposed a ban on Russian imports of enriched uranium that allowed waivers up until 2028. General Matter is among several companies who have received DOE grants for the production of both low-enriched or LEU and a special fuel known as high-assay, low-enriched or HALEU. These companies must obtain licenses from Nuclear Regulatory Commission. HALEU may be used for high-tech reactors, which are expected to begin operating in 2030.

General Matter has not revealed the technology that it will use to enrich the uranium nor the funding for the project. The company said that it "incubated" the project within Founders Fund - a venture capital firm in which Nolan was a partner.

The DOE stated that the lease will provide General Matter with at minimum 7,600 cylinders uranium fluoride fuel to be used for enriching into reactor fuel. The DOE claims that the process will save Americans $800 million by avoiding disposal costs.

Global Laser Enrichment (a company owned jointly by Silex Systems, Cameco, and Cameco) is also planning to enrich uranium at Paducah. It was one of the six companies that were awarded initial U.S. government contracts for domestic uranium production. It will use lasers instead of centrifuges to enrich uranium.

Nima Ashkeboussi said, "From the standpoint of technology readiness and regulatory timeline, nobody is going to get a NRC license faster than us."

GLE intends to enrich waste byproducts or tailings from DOE's enrichment program.

General Matter stated that the "vast" majority of the uranium they will enrich will come from domestic sources. It said that the DOE reserves tailings to enrich uranium in case of a shortage.

(source: Reuters)