HALEU
Covered in 1 MetalsCost.com News Intelligence article, most recently on August 27, 2026.
Overview
HALEU is uranium enriched to somewhere between 5% and just under 20% U-235 — above the 3-5% used in today's conventional reactor fuel, but well below the 20% threshold that reclassifies uranium as highly enriched. That extra fissile concentration lets reactor designers build smaller, more compact cores that run longer between refuelings, which is why HALEU has become central to the next generation of advanced reactors and small modular reactors (SMRs).
Who's Producing It
For years, Russia's state-owned TENEX was the only company enriching HALEU at commercial scale, a dependency that became a strategic liability after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In response, the US Department of Energy has backed domestic HALEU capacity, with Centrus Energy running a demonstration cascade at Piketon, Ohio that produced over 920 kg between October 2023 and mid-2025, operating under an NRC license currently capped at 600 kg a year enriched up to 19.75% U-235.
Sources
- Centrus Energy HALEU production figures and license cap — High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) (2025)
