Project IKE Enrichment
On September 4, 2024, the State of Tennessee and Orano announced the selection of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as Orano's Preferred Site to construct a multi-billion-dollar, state-of-the-art centrifuge uranium enrichment facility.
This is a major milestone towards bringing a new U.S. enrichment facility online to help meet America’s need for an increased, secure domestic nuclear fuel supply.
Orano has begun the processes to secure the land, the financing from the federal government, the customer commitments, and the license to build this much-needed American enrichment facility.
Orano's uranium enrichment center
in Oak Ridge will be a multi-structure commercial production site covering approximately 750,000 square feet, making it one of the largest in America.
Facility operations will create an estimated 305 new direct jobs in Roane County and new business for regional suppliers.
Our focus is to ensure that U.S. nuclear utility customers can reliably perform their mission of generating steady and clean electricity – like TVA. This energy is vitally important to power our daily lives and energize economic development.
Orano's Enrichment Expertise
For more than 40 years, enriched uranium from Orano’s centrifuges has reliably powered America’s nuclear reactors.
We are now developing a new enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, TN, to ensure a reliable, abundant, and secure domestic supply for the future.
Using proven technology and an American supply chain, we will be ready to power America’s increasing demand for nuclear energy.
Orano has more than 60 years of industrial experience in uranium conversion, chemistry and enrichment and recently modernized its facilities in France for decades more of reliable operations and supply.
Today, Orano provides 12% of global uranium enrichment capacity through its Tricastin fuel enrichment site in France and is expanding that capacity by 30% to help meet global demand.
The Need for Orano's New American Enrichment Facility
The U.S. has set a goal of a 3x increase of domestic nuclear energy by 2050.
That equals a 10x increase of domestic enrichment capacity!
To achieve this required domestic enrichment output, we need all suppliers running full bore—it's not an either/or.
Our Project IKE enrichment facility planned for Oak Ridge, TN, is designed as a major source for reliable, diversified, domestic capacity.
30 years ago, the United States was the world leader in producing enriched uranium. Today, the U.S. produces only one-third of what it needs.
With the ban on importing the formerly significant supply of Russian enriched uranium, the U.S. needs to quickly ramp up new sources.
A sufficient, reliable, American fuel supply is an increasing national security imperative.
Orano is stepping up to bring our best and to apply our expertise to build a modern American enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, TN.
Proactive funding actions by Congress and the U.S. Department of Energy and clear Customer interest enabled Orano to make the significant decision to pursue an enrichment facility in the U.S.
FAQs
What is happening?
Orano USA selected Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the preferred site for establishing a multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment facility, termed Project IKE. With this significant milestone achieved, work is underway
on the next required steps, including securing available Federal support and customer commitments, and obtaining an NRC license and Orano’s Board approval. Hiring has begun for open positions—see the Job Openings section, below.
Who is Orano USA?
For more than 40 years, enriched uranium from Orano’s centrifuges has reliably powered America’s nuclear reactors. Orano businesses have operated in the U.S. for
60 years. With U.S. headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and global headquarters in Paris,
France, Orano is a leading technology and services provider for the commercial and federal nuclear industries. The company specializes in uranium mining/conversion/enrichment, supporting advanced reactor development, used nuclear fuel management and
recycling, decommissioning shutdown nuclear energy facilities, federal site cleanup and closure, and developing nuclear medicines to fight cancer. Globally, Orano has more than 60 years of industrial experience in uranium conversion, chemistry and enrichment
and recently modernized its facilities for decades more of reliable operations and supply. Orano currently provides 12% of global uranium enrichment capacity through its fuel enrichment site in France.
Where is the site?
The selected Project IKE preferred site is in Roane County near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on greenfield property owned by the Department of Energy across the street from the Horizon Industrial Center and surrounding
the Oak Ridge Enhanced Technology and Training Center (ORETTC). The DOE is in process of transferring the property, called Self Sufficiency Parcel 2 (SSP-2), to the City of Oak Ridge’s Industrial Development Board by early 2026. Along with this
photo of the SSP-2 property, see the DOE graphic, below.
What criteria were involved in the siting decision?
Key criteria included the world-class, reliable power supply available from TVA, strong community and state support, remarkable educational systems providing employee pipelines,
available qualified workforce, and environmental considerations.
What's happening on the site, now?
We are partnering with DOE and UCOR to prepare and clean up the site for transfer. Most of the site has never been used, except for a small temporary waste storage area called the White Wing Scrap
Yard. UCOR is analyzing the stored materials and the surrounding soil. This characterization will inform the cleanup and remediation of the area.
How large is the planned facility?
The initial facility concept is a footprint of 750,000 square feet, similar to our enrichment facility in Tricastin, France. Ultimately, the design and capacity of the enrichment facility will depend
on customer demand and market needs. Go on a virtual tour of Orano's enrichment facility in Tricastin.
At what stage is the NRC licensing process?
The Project IKE team submitted a Letter of Intent to the NRC on Jan. 29, 2025, stating an expected license application submittal in early 2026. The NRC pre-licensing meeting was completed
on Dec. 10, 2024. The licensing process can last up to three years, though new NRC efficiencies may shorten that duration.
How would this project benefit the local community?
Building and operating this new facility would bring many benefits to the local community, including hundreds of jobs, a new supply chain of local vendors and small businesses,
expanded tax base, and cooperation with regional technical and education institutions to develop a robust pipeline of skilled and professional workers.
How soon will the facility begin operations?
With the timely completion of required milestones, facility enrichment operations could begin in the early 2030s. Separately, Orano is opening an Oak Ridge office in May 2025.
How many jobs will be created?
More than 300 operational jobs would be created at the facility.
What types of jobs are in an enrichment facility?
The jobs are a mix of professional and skilled workers, including management, engineers, safety professionals, laboratory technicians, training personnel, maintenance staff, health
physics technicians, security force personnel, and transportation specialists.
What does a uranium enrichment facility do?
The uranium enrichment process is one of the steps in producing fuel for nuclear reactors. Current U.S. commercial light water nuclear reactors are powered with fuel containing 3-6% of
uranium-235, depending on their designs. When raw uranium is mined, it consists of approximately 99.3% uranium-238, 0.7% uranium-235, and < 0.01% uranium-234. The enrichment process increases the percentage of uranium-235 in the fuel material,
called uranium hexafluoride (UF6). Once the UF6 is enriched to the desired percentage of uranium-235, it is sent to a fuel fabricator to create the specific fuel form for loading into the different types of reactors.
How much enriched uranium will be produced?
The output of an enrichment facility is measured in kilograms of “separative work units” (SWU), which is a calculation standardizing many enrichment process variables into a
comparable number. This facility will be designed for annual full production capacity of several million SWU. For reference in 2023, U.S. utilities purchased 15 million SWU from domestic and international providers (EIA).
Will the facility produce LEU, LEU+, and HALEU?
Based on customer demand and federal support, this Project IKE facility will be designed for uranium enrichment encompassing both low-enriched uranium (LEU) up to 5% and the slightly
higher LEU+. Orano was selected in a Department of Energy award announced Dec. 10, 2024, for suppliers of low enriched uranium (LEU) generated by new domestic sources.
For high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) up to 19.75%, Orano was also selected by the DOE for future task orders within the HALEU enrichment and deconversion contracts.
With appropriate levels of federal support, a HALEU facility to enrich uranium for fueling certain advanced reactors could be co-located with the LEU facility on the Project IKE site to achieve cost and process efficiencies.
There's no mystery to producing HALEU — it's basically running the uranium through more of the same enrichment centrifuges that we currently use to commercially produce LEU, though with additional security requirements.
Plus, Orano already has licensed HALEU transport systems to securely deliver this fuel to advanced reactor developers.
Is Oak Ridge National Lab involved in this project?
No, ORNL is not directly involved with our project.
Is TVA involved in this project?
No, TVA is not directly involved with our project, though access to its steady power supply was a significant factor in the siting decision and utilities would be customers of this facility's production.
Is this project part of the NNSA’s DEUCE program?
No, this project is not part of the NNSA’s Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) program, developed and managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to advance uranium enrichment expertise and technology for U.S. national security needs.
Why is this enrichment facility development code-named Project IKE?
"Project IKE" relates to President "Ike" Eisenhower and his historic Atoms for Peace speech to the United Nations about using atomic energy for peaceful means and the public good.
Resources
Media contact: Curtis Roberts, Press Officer, curtis.roberts(at)orano.group
Orano's future Oak Ridge office location (May 2025): 151 Lafayette Dr, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Podcast: New Orano Plant Boosts Nuclear Growth. Gone Fission interview with Orano USA CEO Palayer, 12/10/20234
https://youtu.be/TvVFa1IypSE
Orano Enrichment & Processing
https://www.orano.group/en/nuclear-expertise/from-exploration-to-recycling/international-expert-in-uranium-processing
Online Interactive Immersion Tour of Orano's Tricastin Enrichment Facility
https://www.orano.group/visite-tricastin
NRC – Uranium Enrichment
https://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/ur-enrichment.html
12/11/2024 - Orano Awarded DOE LEU Enrichment Contract
11/22/2024 - Orano Begins Hiring for Project Ike Enrichment Facility in Tennessee
10/17/2024 - Orano Awarded DOE HALEU Enrichment Contract
10/08/2024 - Orano Proposal Accepted by DOE for HALEU Deconversion Contract Award
9/04/2024 - Governor Lee, Commissioner McWhorter Announce Orano USA Seeks to Locate Uranium Enrichment Operations in Oak Ridge, TN Economic & Community Development
10/26/2023 - Orano Announces 30% Increase in Uranium Enrichment Capacity by 2028
Job Openings
#OranoHires
Though we have completed hiring our first group of positions for developing our Project IKE enrichment facility, keep an eye on this section, on our Careers page, and on LinkedIn for our next round seeking qualified candidates for jobs in Oak Ridge, TN, and Bethesda, MD.
With more than 300 jobs associated with Project IKE, we have many more jobs to fill!