Urenco USA has announced two milestones in December – the company’s first production of enriched uranium above 5% U-235 and the startup of its next cascade of centrifuges as part of a capacity installation programme that aims to help the US reduce its dependence on enriched uranium Russia.

On 11 December, the company completed its initial production run of uranium enriched to 8.5% U-235, which is the first time a commercial uranium enrichment facility in the US has produced this level of enrichment and demonstrates the company’s ability to produce low enriched uranium plus (LEU+), which is uranium enriched to between 5-10% U-235.