Urenco USA announced plans to expand its National Enrichment Facility in Eunice, New Mexico, by nearly 50 percent — adding 2.1 million separative work units of uranium enrichment capacity through a new plant on the existing site. The company expects to bring the first centrifuge cascades online in 2032, with the full build-out running through 2036.
Urenco USA announces major capacity addition at New Mexico site
The 2.1 million SWU addition will bring the National Enrichment Facility’s total nameplate capacity to roughly 6.4 million SWU once complete — before accounting for other projects already underway. Up to 24 new cascades of gas-centrifuge enrichment units will be installed inside a new plant built on the Eunice site.
The facility currently operates at 4.3 million SWU of annual capacity. That 2.1 million SWU addition represents a nearly 50 percent increase — an unusual scale of growth for a single announced project anywhere in the U.S. enrichment sector.
Initial cascades are scheduled to begin production in 2032, with additional cascades continuing to come online through 2036. Spreading the build-out across four years distributes both the capital outlay and the operational ramp-up, rather than concentrating risk in a single construction push.
Long-term utility contracts and regulatory approvals underpin the investment
The expansion is not built on speculative demand. Sarah Riedel, head of sales for Urenco, stated that long-term contract commitments from U.S. nuclear utilities are already backing the project — providing the revenue visibility needed to justify constructing an entirely new enrichment plant.
Regulatory groundwork is also in place. In December 2024, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license amendment allowing Urenco to enrich uranium at the Eunice facility up to 10 percent fissile uranium-235, nearly double the previous limit of 5.5 percent. That change gives the site considerably more flexibility to serve evolving fuel requirements across the reactor fleet.
The expansion relies on Urenco’s established gas-centrifuge technology, already deployed across the site, which reduces technical risk and simplifies licensing for the new cascades. CEO Boris Schucht framed the investment in supply-chain terms: “This expansion reinforces our commitment to a resilient U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain focused on meeting the long-term needs of our customers as well as supporting U.S. energy security through continued investment by Urenco.”
Expansion will push total installed capacity beyond 7 million SWU by mid-2030s
The 2.1 million SWU project is not the only growth underway at Eunice. A separate expansion adding 700,000 SWU is already in progress and scheduled for completion in 2027 — pushing the facility past 5 million SWU before the larger build-out even begins.
Starting that same year, Urenco plans to refurbish existing capacity at the site. Refurbishment extends the productive life of older centrifuge cascades and sustains output as equipment ages.
Taken together — the 2027 expansion, the refurbishment program, and the new 2.1 million SWU plant — Urenco projects installed capacity at the National Enrichment Facility will exceed 7 million SWU over the next decade. The current facility already supplies roughly one-third of total U.S. uranium enrichment demand, so a facility at that scale would represent a meaningfully larger share of the domestic market.
New Mexico expansion is part of Urenco’s broader global capacity program
The Eunice announcement fits within a larger global strategy. Urenco Global plans to install 4.6 million SWU of new enrichment capacity across its sites in the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany over the next decade, and the U.S. portion is the most prominently announced so far.
Urenco USA is a subsidiary of UK-based Urenco Limited, owned in equal thirds by the British, Dutch, and German governments. That ownership structure means investment decisions reflect both commercial and energy-security priorities across several allied nations simultaneously.
The U.S. expansion also aligns with national efforts to strengthen domestic nuclear fuel supply chains and reduce reliance on foreign enrichment sources. Low-enriched uranium produced at Eunice powers commercial reactors across the country — making capacity growth there a matter of both industrial and strategic interest.
To summarize the key facts: Urenco USA will add 2.1 million SWU of enrichment capacity at its Eunice, New Mexico facility through up to 24 new centrifuge cascades, with first production in 2032 and full build-out by 2036. A separate 700,000 SWU project completes in 2027. Combined with planned refurbishment, total installed capacity at the site will grow to more than 7 million SWU — up from 4.3 million SWU today. The investment is supported by long-term utility contracts and a 2024 NRC license amendment permitting enrichment up to 10 percent U-235.
Carlos is an engineer with strong expertise in technical and industrial topics. He previously worked at international companies such as Siemens and speaks Spanish, German, English, and Italian.
