Urenco To Expand Its Enrichment Capacity At Almelo Site

Urenco (ENS Corporate Member) announced new investments to expand enrichment capacity at its site in the Netherlands, which are approved under the company’s capacity programme to strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain worldwide.

As Urenco says, the capacity programme is a long-term plan to meet increasing customer demand as more countries and utility companies turn to nuclear for the first time, or seek to extend and/or diversify fuel supplies for existing nuclear operations.

The project foresees the installation of multiple new centrifuge cascades at the existing plant in Almelo.

This expansion will provide an additional capacity of around 750 tonnes of SWU per year, a 15 per cent increase at Urenco Nederland, with the first new cascades coming online around 2027.

The company had already approved its first expansion project at its US site in New Mexico, earlier this year, providing an additional capacity of 700 tonnes of SWU per year, while at the Gronau site, Germany, a more modern centrifuge technology is expected to enhance the capacity of the plant.

Urenco is committed to the clean energy transition and supporting customers with their energy security needs. Our latest expansion is our largest so far, coming as a result of the growing momentum behind nuclear energy which was further evident at the recent COP28 in Dubai.

Urenco CEO Boris Schucht said.

Read the Urenco Press Release.

The importance of long-term strategies, investments, and further efforts towards diversification of suppliers to ensure nuclear fuel cycle security is a topic that ENS, together with Urenco, Euratom Supply Agency (ENS Member) and Orano, recently discussed in the event “Fuelling Europe’s Future – Uranium Supply, Conversion and Enrichment“, which took place in Brussels on 25th October.

Read more about the event in our follow-up newsletter.