Centrus Energy and X-Energy sign uranium enrichment contract to support Xe-100 SMR and TRISO-X fuel deployments

Centrus Energy Corp. and X-Energy just signed an enrichment services contract. Under the deal, Centrus will supply both low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium to fuel X-Energy’s planned Xe-100 small modular reactors and TRISO-X fuel program. The work happens at Centrus’s American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio—one of the only domestic facilities currently able to produce HALEU at anything close to commercial scale.

Contract terms and fuel types covered

The agreement covers two distinct fuel categories: standard low-enriched uranium, the kind conventional reactors already use, and high-assay low-enriched uranium, enriched to higher concentrations and required for advanced designs like the Xe-100. Both types will support X-Energy’s planned commercial Xe-100 deployments and its TRISO-X fuel program.

All enrichment work takes place at Piketon. That facility is one of very few U.S. sites capable of producing HALEU at a commercial scale, which makes it a critical node in the emerging domestic advanced nuclear supply chain.

One financial detail stands out: X-Energy will make prepayments to Centrus, with those upfront funds specifically meant to help expand domestic enrichment capacity.

One financial detail stands out: X-Energy will make prepayments to Centrus, with those upfront funds specifically meant to help expand domestic enrichment capacity. It’s a structure that directly ties X-Energy’s fuel needs to the growth of U.S. enrichment infrastructure. For anyone tracking how advanced reactor developers are trying to de-risk their supply chains, that’s a meaningful signal.

Why X-Energy needs a dedicated enrichment supplier

The Xe-100 isn’t a conventional reactor, and it can’t run on conventional fuel. The design relies on TRISO fuel particles, which require HALEU—uranium typically enriched above the 5% U-235 level that standard light-water reactors use. Most commercial enrichment infrastructure worldwide is built around that lower threshold, not the higher levels advanced reactors need.

That gap is a real problem for SMR developers. HALEU isn’t widely available on the commercial market yet, and without a dedicated supply agreement, a company like X-Energy could hit serious bottlenecks long before a single reactor goes online. Locking in an enrichment partner early isn’t a luxury—it’s a prerequisite.

There’s also a regulatory dimension. X-Energy’s TRISO-X fuel fabrication program needs a reliable, domestic enrichment source to satisfy supply-chain requirements and the expectations of U.S. nuclear regulators. Sourcing from Piketon helps X-Energy sidestep the complications—and potential vulnerabilities—that come with depending on foreign enrichment suppliers.

Implications for Centrus’s domestic enrichment capacity

For Centrus, this is more than a revenue agreement. X-Energy’s prepayments will directly fund expansion of enrichment operations at the American Centrifuge Plant—a concrete financial mechanism for growing domestic HALEU production and the kind of commercial signal that can attract further investment.

Scaling up at Piketon also strengthens the broader commercial case for U.S. HALEU production. Until recently, domestic HALEU supply was largely a government-funded research effort. Contracts like this one push it closer to a real commercial market, where multiple reactor developers might eventually compete for supply from the same domestic facilities. That’s a meaningful shift in how the sector operates.

Other advanced reactor developers designing systems around HALEU could benefit indirectly from Centrus’s expanded capacity. A larger, more capable enrichment facility serves the whole sector—not just the company that signed first.

Background: the TRISO-X TX-1 campus expansion

This contract doesn’t exist in isolation. X-Energy is simultaneously expanding its TRISO-X TX-1 fuel fabrication campus, which signals that the company is scaling its entire nuclear fuel supply chain—not just securing enrichment feedstock but building out the downstream manufacturing capability to turn that material into finished reactor fuel.

TRISO fuel is worth understanding on its own terms. TRISO stands for Tristructural Isotropic. Each fuel particle is coated in multiple protective layers that contain fission products even under extreme conditions, and the design is widely considered highly resistant to meltdown scenarios. That’s one reason it’s central to so many next-generation reactor concepts—it’s not just a fuel choice, it’s a safety architecture.

The policy environment is also working in both companies’ favor. The U.S. government has identified domestic HALEU production and advanced reactor deployment as strategic energy priorities. That tailwind—through legislation, funding programs, and sustained regulatory attention—provides a supportive backdrop for exactly the kind of long-term commercial agreements Centrus and X-Energy just signed. Neither company is operating in a vacuum; they’re moving with a current that Washington has been deliberately trying to create.

Supporting Xe-100 SMR deployments

The Centrus-X-Energy contract is a concrete step toward building a domestic supply chain for advanced nuclear fuel. Centrus will enrich both LEU and HALEU at its Piketon, Ohio facility, with X-Energy’s prepayments funding capacity expansion there. The fuel will support Xe-100 SMR deployments and X-Energy‘s TRISO-X fabrication program.

HALEU’s limited commercial availability makes dedicated supply agreements like this one essential for any SMR developer moving toward actual deployment. The simultaneous expansion of X-Energy’s TX-1 campus suggests this isn’t a single isolated deal—it’s part of a broader, coordinated scale-up of the advanced nuclear fuel cycle in the United States.

Kelly Lippke

Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.