Market sizing, financing deals, offtake contracts and investment analysis across the HALEU value chain
Centrus' Piketon expansion will add cascades for HALEU, LEU feed and national-security enrichment, backed by a DOE task order worth up to $1.07 billion and first capacity targeted for 2029.
TerraPower's 2022 decision to delay its Wyoming sodium-cooled reactor by at least two years was driven by HALEU availability, not funding or regulation — a structural supply gap that new enrichment capacity will not close before 2029.
A new market report values the global HALEU market at $850 million in 2025 and projects 17% annual growth to $4.09 billion by 2035, driven by advanced reactors and Western supply security.
A new market forecast puts global uranium enrichment at $8.83 billion in 2026 and $17.70 billion by 2036, a 7.2% CAGR driven by Western capacity expansion, HALEU demand and supply-chain reshoring.
A new Research and Markets study projects the global HALEU fuel market will grow from $0.45 billion in 2025 to $9.96 billion by 2036, with enrichment leading today's value chain and fuel fabrication posting the fastest growth.
Centrus Energy agreed on October 19, 2026 to acquire Westerman Holdings for approximately $116 million, vertically integrating a key centrifuge casing supplier into its multibillion-dollar LEU and HALEU enrichment expansion.
South Africa's Necsa and Quantum Leap Energy have signed a binding heads of agreement to develop a HALEU test bench and commercial production facility at Pelindaba, with QLE holding about 80% of the joint venture and TerraPower supply deals already providing offtake.
A $900 million DOE contract, more than $1.2 billion in convertible notes and a fresh $99.8 million equity raise are financing Centrus's plan to produce at least 12 tonnes of HALEU per year at Piketon.
TerraPower has offtake agreements covering future QLE/Necsa output, while Centrus has signed HALEU supply deals with Oklo, X-energy, Radiant and Antares — a sign that contracted demand is running years ahead of production.
Centrus Energy has signed multi-year HALEU supply agreements with Antares Nuclear, Radiant and X-energy, adding customer prepayments that help fund its domestic enrichment build-out.
The IAEA identifies HALEU enrichment and advanced-fuel fabrication as major fuel cycle bottlenecks, warning that commercial-scale Western production capacity remains virtually non-existent.
Centrus Energy has reached a $4.5 billion order backlog for LEU and HALEU, solidifying its position as the only publicly traded U.S. company producing HALEU for next-generation reactors. Analysts remain bullish despite anticipated revenue fluctuations leading up to the 2028 Russian uranium import ban.