Nuclear supply chain expands: Centrus centrifuge, Framatome fuel coating, Doosan NuScale vessel

· Climate · United States · France

Three nuclear supply-chain moves landed within a day. Centrus Energy's Oak Ridge, Tennessee plant shipped the first new centrifuge for its multibillion-dollar expansion of uranium enrichment capacity at Piketon, Ohio. In France, Framatome inaugurated a chromium-coating industrial pilot facility at its Paimboeuf plant to industrialize its PROtect Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel technology. In South Korea, Doosan Enerbility signed a contract with US small modular reactor developer NuScale Power to manufacture an upper reactor coolant system for the NuScale Power Module. Together the steps cover enrichment, fuel technology and SMR component manufacturing, three links that have been bottlenecks as Western nuclear capacity is rebuilt and new reactor designs move toward deployment.

Why it matters：Enrichment, accident-tolerant fuel and SMR components are the chokepoints for Western nuclear buildout, so progress on each signals how fast new capacity can actually come online.

Key points

  • Centrus is expanding enrichment capacity at Piketon, Ohio.
  • Framatome's Paimboeuf site hosts a chromium-coating pilot line for accident-tolerant fuel.
  • Doosan Enerbility will build the upper reactor coolant system for NuScale's module.

Sources (original reporting)

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