US reshores uranium processing with new enrichment facility deal

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has signed a lease agreement with General Matter Inc. to establish a new private-sector uranium enrichment facility on a 100-acre parcel of federal land at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) site. The PGDP, operational from 1952 to 2013, was originally used for enriching uranium for nuclear weapons and later for commercial nuclear fuel. This initiative aims to repurpose the site to support America’s goal of becoming a leader in nuclear energy by reshoring and expanding domestic nuclear fuel supply chains, which are critical for national security, commercial power generation, and scientific research reactors. General Matter, one of four companies selected by DOE in October 2024 to provide uranium enrichment services, plans to begin construction in 2026 and start uranium enrichment operations by the end of the decade. The lease includes access to 7,600 cylinders of uranium hexafluoride, which will be reprocessed to support reenrichment