Leverage our experience for your success
The nuclear power industry is rapidly changing, with a new generation of advanced reactors under development. As companies work to bring these innovative designs to market, Centrus provides an integrated solution for meeting the industry’s engineering, manufacturing and fuel needs.
Drawing on decades of experience, Centrus can assist with the design and manufacture of critical components as well as the business planning, project and supply chain management, design, and licensing of facilities to produce new fuels.
With deep technical expertise in fuel production and a long track record as a nuclear facility operator, Centrus can identify future deployment risks and help manage them effectively. From design and engineering to NQA-1 precision manufacturing, Centrus Technical Solutions is the trusted, full-service partner for advanced reactor developers.
Expertise
- Fuel Production and Chemistry, including HALEU
- Transportation and Packaging
- Operations, Licensing, and Regulatory Support
- Nuclear Criticality Safety Analysis
- Component Design & Engineering
- Manufacturability Analysis/Design for Manufacturability
- Advanced Manufacturing
Fuel Production and Chemistry
Next-generation reactors will require innovative nuclear fuel. A fuel design that maximizes a future customer’s operations while minimizing costs will drive the commercial success and marketability of the reactor.
Centrus has the expertise to produce and manufacture affordable new reactor fuels to customer specification based on decades of experience providing nuclear fuel services to utility customers around the world and producing a wide range of enrichment levels supporting U.S. Government requirements. This expertise includes uranium chemistry, nuclear facility licensing, and alternative uranium fuel cycles.
Centrus has also been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy to deploy a U.S. uranium enrichment demonstration facility for producing high-assay low-enriched uranium, the expected fuel source for many potential advanced reactor designs.
Centrus is the author of USEC-651, the international standard manual for the safe handling of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the chemical form of commercially produced enriched uranium fuel. Our experience from decades of continuous operations at two large uranium enrichment plants will support your needs for UF6, UF4 and other fuel forms.
Regulatory, Licensing, and Operations Support
Centrus has extensive experience developing and implementing license applications for new facilities, having licensed four facilities through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. While the licensing process is complex and challenging, Centrus’ licensing experts can anticipate the problems our customers will face and can provide real-world solutions to keep your license application on track.
Centrus and its predecessors also have more than 60 years’ experience in nuclear facility operations supporting commercial and national security demands under multiple regulatory regimes. Centrus is proud of its strong safety record, having recorded millions of hours of safe operation to date, as well as its proven regulatory performance under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and multiple state agencies. Centrus’ plant operations experts can assist with the development of procedures and best practices for operating new facilities that will instill a strong safety culture and ensure adherence to stringent regulatory requirements.
Nuclear Criticality Safety Analysis
With the higher-assay requirements of many advanced reactor fuel designs, nuclear criticality analysis beyond that conducted for current commercial fuels will be essential to developing, fabricating, and transporting fuels that will pass regulatory scrutiny and lead to successful design licensing.
Centrus’ team of engineers, regulatory experts, and partner network have successfully completed Safety Analysis for many levels of enrichment and various fuel types and can assist customers with safe and effective management of their innovative reactor supply chain.
Transportation and Packaging
Centrus has decades of experience handling and shipping nuclear fuel, nuclear-grade components, and waste materials around the United States and the world. For developers of HALEU fuel, Centrus has been developing transportation solutions and protocols to support the licensing of fuel containers for higher-assay fuel types. This work includes package design and certification for U.S. and international transport. Centrus is also skilled in the design and manufacturing of package inserts and adaptors for custom applications.
Component Design & Engineering
With a multi-disciplined design team experienced in solving complex engineering problems, Centrus offers customers the ability to rapidly design, revise, and prototype first-of-a-kind components that will be critical to the success of these new plants. Centrus has more than a decade of experience designing a variety of novel components for operation in a nuclear environment with a focus on reliability, manufacturability, and affordability.
Manufacturability Analysis & Design for Manufacturability
Initial designs may look good on the computer, but can they be created in the real world at a cost that supports deployment? Assessing the manufacturability of key components will ensure that an innovative reactor design is not sidelined by uneconomic or unbuildable parts. Centrus’ team of design and manufacturing experts can review and improve existing designs before the first metal is formed, machined, or welded, saving time and money in first-of-a-kind and commercial deployments.
Advanced Manufacturing
Over the past 15 years, Centrus has designed, built, tested, operated, and validated the world’s most advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges – a classified technology supporting U.S. national security missions. These machines operate at extreme conditions, requiring the tightest tolerances and utilizing a variety of complex materials and innovative manufacturing techniques. Centrus offers these world-class engineering and precision manufacturing capabilities to advanced reactor developers and advanced fuel cycle enterprises.
Centrus operates a 440,000 square foot, NQA-1-compliant prototyping and manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with the ability to make classified and unclassified components, large or small, whether one piece or thousands. Centrus’ team of scientists and engineers transform innovative ideas into proven designs and high-quality products and components.
American Centrifuge Operating, LLC d/b/a Centrus Technical Solutions