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$1.5-billion project planned at Energy Department site

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General Matter plans to start enriching in 2034, needs US

license

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US hopes to wean itself off Russian uranium

By Timothy Gardner

Aug 5 (Reuters) -

General Matter, a U.S. startup hoping to enrich uranium for

fueling nuclear reactors, signed a lease with the Department of

Energy on Tuesday to build a facility at a former federal plant

in Kentucky.

The $1.5-billion project will be at the former Paducah

Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The U.S. built the site in the 1950s to

produce enriched uranium, initially for nuclear weapons. The

facility later produced enriched uranium for nuclear reactors,

but closed in 2013.

Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with operations

planned for 2034, the DOE said. The plant is expected to create

about 140 permanent jobs, the company said.

General Matter CEO Scott Nolan said reactivating the site

would "power a new era of American energy independence." General

Matter held a ceremony in Paducah attended by Kentucky Governor

Andy Beshear, U.S. senators and representatives, and DOE

officials.

The company did not say how much enriched uranium it will

produce.

While UK-based Urenco has the capacity to supply about a

third of U.S. commercial reactor needs of enriched uranium from

a plant in New Mexico that is expanding, the U.S. is heavily

dependent on foreign suppliers, including Russia.

Former President Joe Biden put a ban on Russian enriched uranium

imports that allows waivers until 2028.

General Matter is one of several companies that have received

DOE grants to produce both low-enriched uranium, or LEU, and a

special fuel called high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU.

The companies need to get licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission. HALEU could be used in high-tech reactors that plan

to start operating around 2030.

General Matter did not reveal the technology it plans to use

to enrich uranium, nor the funding of the project. It said this

year it was "incubated within" Founders Fund, a venture capital

fund, in which Nolan is a partner.

The DOE said the lease provides General Matter with at least

7,600 cylinders of uranium hexafluoride to supply fuel that can

be enriched into reactor fuel. The process will save Americans

about $800 million in avoided disposal costs, the DOE said.

Global Laser Enrichment, a company owned by Silex Systems ( SILXF )

and Cameco ( CCJ ) that is one of six that won initial

U.S. contracts to produce domestic uranium fuel, also plans to

enrich uranium in Paducah. It plans to use lasers to enrich

rather than centrifuges.

"From a standpoint of technology readiness, from the

regulatory timeline, no one's going to get an NRC license

quicker than us," Nima Ashkeboussi, GLE vice president of

government relations, said in an interview.

GLE plans to enrich tailings, or waste byproducts left over

from the DOE's enrichment programs.

General Matter said the "vast majority" of the uranium it

will enrich will be from domestic sources. The DOE is reserving

tailings for it to enrich in the event of supply shortages, it

said.