Walsh, industry reps discuss "American energy hub" at Oak Ridge cleanup site. From left, TRISO-X's Brandon Blamer, Radiant's Matt Wilson, DOE-EM Assistant Secretary Tim Walsh, Orano's Jean-Luc Palayer, and Kairos's Nikki Sizemore. (Photo: Andrew Smith/ANS) On October 27, Tim Walsh, assistant secretary for the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management, gathered with industry representatives at the former site of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant to showcase several nuclear energy projects in development near the site. Speaking to the press at East Tennessee Technology Park, Walsh touted the development as a sign of the success of DOE-EM's mission at Oak Ridge and other DOE cleanup sites, which he said was "to restore the sites for community re-reuse and economic development." The DOE estimates that investment in the projects featured at the press event totals more than $15 billion. Joining Walsh were four company executives: Jean-Luc Palayer, chief executive officer and president of uranium enrichment company Orano USA. Brandon Blamer, vice president of engineering at fuel fabrication firm TRISO-X. Matt Wilson, vice president of capital projects at microreactor developer Radiant Industries. Nikki Sizemore, director of government affairs at advanced reactor developer Kairos Power. Each company is in a different stage of progress at its own Oak Ridge facility. TRISO-X completed the primary building structure of its TX-1 fuel fabrication plant in September 2026; five months earlier, in April, Kairos began constructing its Hermes 2 fluoride salt-cooled reactor. Both Orano's Project Ike Enrichment Facility and Radiant's R-50 production facility are in the middle of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's preconstruction licensing process, and the NRC has granted them both an accelerated review. The four companies represent different but complementary parts of the nuclear energy cycle, which led Walsh to describe ETTP as a "nuclear hub," reinforcing the characterization of the site by the DOE as an "American energy hub" that it believes will drive economic growth. When asked about that economic growth, specifically in the context of jobs for local residents, Walsh acknowledged that DOE-EM's cleanup of legacy nuclear sites, including Oak Ridge, has been a source of employment. However, he also expressed a belief that accelerating cleanup would promote revitalization and a transition to private-sector jobs with the companies developing their projects on cleanup site land, saying, "The EM workforce lives in this local community, so they want to see jobs for their kids and their grandkids, and they want to see the local community prosper." The company representatives in attendance largely echoed Walsh's statements. Wilson said that he expected Radiant to have about 1,000 open positions at its TX-1 and TX-2 fabrication facilities, while Palayer said that Orano chose to build its enrichment plant at Oak Ridge in part because of Tennessee's educational and vocational training programs and their potential to provide staff for the facility. Walsh added that Oak Ridge community officials estimate a need for approximately 10,000 construction workers to support site development over the next five years, with some of those jobs becoming permanent because of future development. Although DOE-EM's cleanup of ETTP, which began in 1996, is nearly complete, cleanup efforts continue at two other areas of the Oak Ridge Reservation site: Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex, both of which serve as homes to nuclear energy projects even as cleanup continues. DOE-EM currently manages cleanup of 16 legacy nuclear sites across the United States and is pursuing a goal of broadly repurposing the sites as centers for future industrial development. The NLIC connection: The description of ETTP as a nuclear energy hub mirrors the description of sites that the DOE hopes to develop under another program: the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses (NLIC) initiative. Announced in January, the program seeks to establish new technology campuses in several states, each of which would support work across the nuclear fuel cycle. When asked about how projects at Oak Ridge connect to the NLIC program and the selection of Tennessee as a final contender to host one of the campuses, Walsh said that existing sites that perform a range of activities similar to what's proposed for the NLIC sites, such as ORNL, Idaho National Laboratory, and the Savannah River Site, are driving the innovation employed by companies such as the ones planning to operate at ETTP. Walsh then broached the topic of a used fuel repository - which the DOE has required every state applying for the NLIC program to be willing to host - in a way that suggested that an NLIC campus in Tennessee could complement the work planned for ETTP. "The last component that we need to solve is really a final repository for the spent nuclear fuel," he said.

It's official: Fort Benning is going nuclear. October 20, 2026 Radiant Nuclear, the nuclear supplier for the base under the Janus Program, is hoping to build a large-scale microreactor manufacturer in nearby Oak Ridge, Tennessee, simplifying maintenance. In August, the United States Army selected Fort Benning, Georgia, as one of the five potential host sites for its ambitious Janus Program nuclearization effort. The installation is now on track to receive three 1-megawatt nuclear microreactors produced by Radiant Nuclear. On Monday, the US Army confirmed that officials from the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning met with representatives from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy & Environment (ASA (IE&E)), Radiant Nuclear, and other energy stakeholders during a site visit last week. Under the current agreement, the private American energy company will integrate its "Kaleidos" microreactors with Fort Benning's existing power grid. It will deliver, install, operate, and maintain the microreactors, which will ensure that the base has independent power to "selected mission-critical facilities in the event of a commercial grid outage." Final site approval is pending completion of required environmental and cultural resource surveys under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). "To project power globally, we must ensure our critical infrastructure - especially Lawson Army Airfield and our mission command centers - remains fully operational under any circumstances. Uninterrupted, resilient energy is the lifeblood of our flight line and deployment operations," said Maj. Gen. Colin P. Tuley, commanding general of the MCoE and Fort Benning. "This initial site visit is about setting the conditions to successfully receive and integrate this advanced power technology, protecting our operations from commercial grid vulnerabilities." This month's meeting was centered on the strategic goals of the Janus Program, as well as the US Army's broader microreactor initiative. The US Army has indicated that it will award up to a combined $2.2 billion for the firms to "own, construct, and operate nuclear microreactors on military installations," which will deliver safe and reliable power. Although five sites have been selected, the US Army acknowledged that it could eventually field more than 20 nuclear microreactors across Pentagon installations if the first five are successful. "This kickoff meeting brings together all the partners responsible for delivering micro-nuclear power to Fort Benning," said Dr. Ed Locke, master planner for the Directorate of Public Works and the installation's Janus Project lead. "It's our first opportunity to collaborate face-to-face with our long-term partners." About the Kaleidos microreactors. The Kaleidos microreactor platform is described as a "transportable high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) that fits inside a standard shipping container." It employs TRISO fuel and helium gas cooling, and provides enough energy to power approximately 1,000 homes. The microreactor has enough fuel for five years of continuous operation before it must be refueled. However, by the time that happens, the devices probably will not need to be shipped all the way to the company's facilities in El Segundo, California. Radiant is already building a $280 million microreactor manufacturing plant, dubbed R-50, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on land that was historically used for the Manhattan Project - with a target production capacity of up to 50 microreactors per year. "Radiant is proud to partner with the Fort Benning team to deliver the Department of War's first operational nuclear microreactor," said retired US Navy Rear Adm. Mark B. Sucato, Radiant's director of national security business development. "Seeing how prepared and energized our Fort Benning partners are, was invigorating. We look forward to achieving Initial Operational Capability together." Current plans call for having the first microreactors operational by 2028. The reactors will be contractor-owned and operated, but with US Army regulatory oversight. Radiant will operate the units at Fort Benning and will also be responsible for refueling and spent-fuel management. Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines, and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author at [email protected].

Centrus and Radiant announce long-term partnership for domestic HALEU to supply Kaleidos microreactors. Sep 09, 2026, 06:49 ET Agreement adds another domestic, U.S.-origin source of HALEU to support commercial and national security deployments of Radiant's Kaleidos microreactors Adds another HALEU customer to Centrus' backlog and includes prepayments to Centrus that advance its build-out of domestic enrichment capacity BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Centrus Energy Corp. [NYSE: LEU] ("Centrus"), a trusted supplier of nuclear fuel and services, and Radiant, a leading developer of transportable plug-in ready nuclear microreactors, today announced a definitive multi-year contract to supply high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel needed to deploy multiple Kaleidos microreactors. Under the agreement, Centrus will begin delivering HALEU before the end of the decade, adding another domestic source of fuel to support commercial scale-up of Radiant's Kaleidos fleet. The contract further strengthens Centrus' position as a leading fuel supplier for next generation nuclear technologies while expanding its role in the emerging microreactor market. The agreement includes Radiant prepayments to Centrus to support its domestic commercial enrichment capacity program. For Radiant, the contract adds another domestic source of HALEU as the company moves from its first Kaleidos test toward commercial and national security deployments, reinforcing the fuel supply it continues to build in parallel with the reactor itself. "The contract with Radiant marks another important step in building the domestic fuel supply chain needed to support the next generation of nuclear energy," said Amir Vexler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Centrus. "By expanding our work to include innovative microreactor developers like Radiant, we are strengthening the U.S.-based fuel supply network. This will help ensure that emerging nuclear technologies have access to the reliable fuel they need to reach commercialization and meet growing demand for clean, secure, and dependable energy." "You can't deploy nuclear reactors without fuel, so we have approached our fuel supply the same way we have approached the reactor: build it in parallel, and don't depend on any single path," said Dr. Rita Baranwal, Chief Nuclear Officer of Radiant. "This agreement gives Kaleidos a continued source of HALEU for commercial and national security applications and removes one of the biggest constraints facing advanced nuclear deployment. We're securing the fuel supply chain alongside the reactor so that when Kaleidos is ready to deploy at scale, the infrastructure behind it is ready too." Because Centrus' technology is U.S.-origin and relies upon a U.S. manufacturing supply chain, the enrichment that Centrus provides to Radiant will be "unobligated" - meaning that it can be used for national security applications. Centrus' AC100 centrifuge design is the only deployment-ready U.S.-origin technology available for unobligated enrichment today. Radiant is developing transportable microreactors designed to provide reliable power for remote locations, data centers, defense applications, and/or other commercial and industrial uses, representing a broad potential market for Centrus' domestic HALEU supply. About Centrus Centrus Energy is a trusted American supplier of nuclear fuel and services for the nuclear power industry, helping meet the growing need for clean, affordable, carbon-free energy. Since 1998, the Company has provided its utility customers with more than 1,850 reactor years of fuel, which is equivalent to more than 7 billion tons of coal. With world-class technical and engineering capabilities, Centrus is pioneering production of High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium and is leading the effort to restore America's uranium enrichment capabilities at scale so that we can meet our clean energy, energy security, and national security needs. Find out more at www.centrusenergy.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X. About Radiant Radiant is a leading developer of advanced nuclear technologies focused on delivering reliable, resilient, and scalable energy solutions that are transportable by land, sea and air. Radiant is committed to enabling a new generation of nuclear applications for commercial, industrial, and defense customers. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this context, forward-looking statements mean statements related to future events, which may impact our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "will", "should", "could", "would" or "may" and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this news release and represent management's current views and assumptions with respect to future events and operational, economic and financial performance. For Centrus Energy Corp., particular factors that involve uncertainty and could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements and which are, and may be, exacerbated by any worsening of the global business and economic environment include but are not limited to the following: the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical conflicts; our government contracts, including related to changes to the U.S. government's appropriated funding levels for HALEU and the government's inability to satisfy its obligations, and our lease to our facility in Piketon, Ohio; whether or when government demand for HALEU or LEU for government or commercial uses will materialize and at what level; the impact and potential extended duration of a supply/demand imbalance in the market for LEU; significant competition from major LEU producers, including foreign competitors, who may be less cost sensitive than we are; limitations on our ability to compete in foreign markets; pricing trends and demand in the uranium and enrichment markets, especially in light of the potential of limited supply and our dependence on others for deliveries of LEU; and our ability to successfully implement our planned expansion projects in Piketon, Ohio and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release. These factors may not constitute all factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in any forward-looking statement. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made in this news release and in our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, under Part II, Item 1A - "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, under Part II, Item 1A - "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, and our filings with the SEC that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this news release, except as required by law. SOURCE Centrus Energy Corp.