Centrus Ships First New Centrifuge for Ohio Enrichment Expansion

Centrus Energy Corp. (LEU ) said on October 29, 2026 that its Oak Ridge, Tennessee manufacturing plant has completed and is shipping the first new centrifuge to Ohio for final assembly, the next phase of the company’s multibillion-dollar expansion of uranium enrichment capacity at Piketon, Ohio. In its announcement, the company said it has now secured a complete and complex manufacturing supply chain and that both milestones were achieved ahead of its previously announced year-end target.

Under the project, completed centrifuges manufactured in Tennessee will be shipped to Ohio for final assembly, with the manufacturing rate growing over time. The Tennessee-built centrifuges will be grouped into cascades, with the first new capacity expected to come online in Ohio in 2029, as previously announced. The expansion includes large-scale production of Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) for the existing reactor fleet for baseload electricity, High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) for next-generation reactors, and enrichment for national security needs.

“Completing the first new centrifuge for our expansion and standing up a one-of-a-kind supply chain are significant moments for our team and this country,” said Amir Vexler, president and chief executive officer of Centrus. “Building this unique manufacturing capability at scale takes specialized expertise, time, precision and sustained commitment.”

Oak Ridge Manufacturing Ramp

Centrus states that its technology is fully licensed, proven and de-risked, with more than four million machine-hours of successful operation. Its existing centrifuge cascade in Ohio includes components manufactured in 2019 and in prior years and has produced HALEU since late 2023. In December 2025, the company restarted centrifuge manufacturing activities in Oak Ridge to support the Ohio expansion. In January 2026, it announced a $560 million investment to expand and modernize its Oak Ridge Technology and Manufacturing Center, transitioning the site into a high-rate manufacturing plant capable of supporting production of thousands of advanced centrifuges.

More recently, Centrus has been manufacturing thousands of individual centrifuge components while steadily expanding manufacturing capacity and throughput. Concurrently, it contracted a network of domestic suppliers and ordered tens of thousands of parts from American manufacturers to secure an unobligated supply chain that can service both commercial and national security demand. Earlier in October 2026, the company completed its acquisition of Westerman Holdings LLC, a key supplier of centrifuge casings and other major components.

Centrus describes the Oak Ridge facility as the only advanced centrifuge manufacturing plant in the United States with a proven and de-risked technology, and states that all other centrifuge technologies in commercial operation today are manufactured exclusively overseas. The company said it relies on an exclusively domestic supply chain, which allows its centrifuges to produce enriched uranium for both commercial and national security applications.

Expansion Financing and Contract Backdrop

Centrus launched commercial LEU enrichment activities on December 19, 2025, citing a growing backlog of $2.3 billion in contingent LEU sales to U.S. and international customers. Those agreements are contingent upon the company realizing certain milestones toward building the new capacity. The company raised $1.2 billion through convertible note transactions in November 2024 and August 2025, reported a cash balance of more than $1.6 billion as of September 30, 2025, and launched a $1 billion at-the-market offering.

The company is a finalist for Department of Energy task orders for both LEU production and HALEU production, which the department has indicated could be approximately $900 million per task order. In August 2025, Centrus announced a proposed partnership with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and POSCO International to explore potential investment in new enrichment capacity in Ohio. In October 2025, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced its intent to contract with Centrus for LEU enrichment for national security.

The expansion is expected to support 1,000 construction jobs and 300 new operating jobs in Ohio while retaining 150 existing jobs at the Piketon plant, according to the December 2025 announcement. That announcement also stated that the last U.S.-owned, large-scale uranium enrichment plant was built in the 1950s and shut down permanently in 2013, and that imports of Russian enriched uranium are banned starting in 2028.

Tennessee officials marked the shipment in statements distributed with the announcement. Governor Bill Lee said the first shipment of centrifuge components from the expanded Oak Ridge facility marks an important milestone in strengthening America’s nuclear fuel supply chain. Senator Bill Hagerty said the centrifuges manufactured in Oak Ridge will help build the nuclear energy infrastructure America will need for decades to come, and Congressman Chuck Fleischmann said the investment brings hundreds of good-paying jobs and affirms the region’s leadership in advanced nuclear technology. Stuart C. McWhorter, deputy governor and TNECD commissioner, said the shipment demonstrates Tennessee’s role in rebuilding America’s domestic uranium enrichment capability with support from Tennessee’s Nuclear Energy Fund. Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch cited more than $560 million in planned investment and nearly 430 new jobs, and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVC ) Chief Nuclear Officer Matt Rasmussen said the milestone represents a meaningful advancement in strengthening the nation’s nuclear fuel supply chain.