Urenco and Orano are both scaling up US enrichment capacity as Russian uranium ban drives a supply rethink
Urenco USA's near-50% expansion and Orano's new facility bid together address less than half the US reactor fleet's annual enrichment requirement.
Urenco USA, the only commercial-scale uranium enrichment operator in the United States, announced in early June 2026 plans to expand enriched uranium production capacity by nearly 50% through a privately funded, multibillion-dollar investment at its National Enrichment Facility in Eunice, New Mexico. The move came alongside a separate bid by Orano Enrichment USA, which filed a request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a licence to build and operate a new enrichment facility with a planned maximum output of 7.4 million separative work units per year.5,64
The scale of the challenge those investments face is visible in the supply math. US commercial nuclear reactors collectively require approximately 15 million separative work units of enriched uranium each year, while nuclear power provides around 20% of the country's electricity. Even if both the Urenco expansion and Orano's new facility proceed on schedule and at maximum planned capacity, the combined output would not cover the full annual requirement. The gap reflects how far Western enrichment infrastructure has fallen behind demand over decades in which Russian supply was treated as a reliable, low-cost baseline.4
Russia's Rosatom state nuclear company built that position through competitive pricing underwritten by state financing, locking in long-term contracts with European and US utilities that are now proving difficult to exit. The European Commission pledged in May 2026 to release plans for taxes or levies on Russian enriched uranium aimed at gradually phasing out its use, then delayed the proposal after utilities raised concerns about the timeline and the commercial consequences of breaking contracted supply arrangements. Russian uranium is still flowing into Europe.2
That delay creates a structural problem for the economics of Western enrichment expansion. Competing against state-backed Russian supply keeps enrichment contract prices lower than they would otherwise be, reducing the risk-adjusted return on the capital Urenco and Orano are committing. The divergence between the US, which has moved to ban Russian uranium imports, and Europe, which has stalled on equivalent measures, now feeds directly into the pricing environment for enrichment services — and into the business case for private multibillion-dollar investment.2
Rosatom is under financial strain in some markets, though its commercial position has not materially weakened. During the week of May 18, 2026, the company was reported in talks to sell a 49% stake in a $25 billion nuclear plant project beset by delays and financing difficulties, partly related to Western sanctions. In Bangladesh, meanwhile, Rosatom is building two reactors to add roughly 10% to the country's generating capacity, with Russia reportedly financing around 90% of the estimated $12.6 billion construction cost. That emerging-market model gives Rosatom durable footholds regardless of Western diversification efforts.2
The demand growth underpinning Western expansion plans is substantial. The US government has set a target to quadruple nuclear generating capacity from approximately 100 gigawatts in 2024 to 400 gigawatts by 2050. As of Thursday (2026-05-21), Westinghouse was part of an $80 billion agreement with the US government to build new reactors specifically for artificial intelligence infrastructure deployment. Reaching the 400 gigawatt target would eventually require enrichment capacity well beyond what the current Urenco and Orano announcements outline.1
The Trump administration is separately working on a programme to make weapons-grade plutonium from Cold War warheads available to energy companies as fuel for advanced nuclear reactors. Coupled with the enrichment capacity push, the policy direction treats nuclear fuel supply as an energy security matter, not merely a commercial one.3
The uranium ETF URA traded at $44.72 on Wednesday (2026-06-24), down 1.49% on the day, a modest retreat that reflected neither the scale of the enrichment commitments announced earlier in June nor the longer-term demand trajectory. The more consequential signals will be the NRC's pace of review on Orano's licence application and Urenco's construction timeline at the New Mexico facility. How quickly US enrichment capacity can come online determines whether the gap between domestic supply and reactor demand narrows materially before the decade ends — or whether Russian-origin fuel continues to fill it by default.