US nuclear reactor to get world’s first higher-enriched fuel for 24-month operating cycle

An operating commercial nuclear reactor in the United States is set to receive the world’s first fuel reload enriched beyond long-standing industry limits.

French nuclear engineering firm Framatome has signed a commercial deal to supply fuel containing uranium-235 above the standard five percent weight threshold. The agreement marks the first time an active, full-scale commercial reactor will run on this higher-grade fuel design.

Deliveries are scheduled to begin in spring 2028 from Framatome’s manufacturing facility in Richland, Washington. The contract also includes options for additional batches in the coming years.

Stretching the operating cycles

Standard commercial reactors shut down every 18 months to replace spent fuel rods. Because the new fuel contains a higher concentration of fissile uranium, the reactor can generate heat for longer periods before needing fresh supplies.

Plant operators will be able to stretch their operating cycles to 24 months, cutting down on expensive refueling outages and keeping the plant running continuously for longer stretches.

The higher enrichment also unlocks higher fuel burnup limits. In nuclear engineering, burnup measures how much thermal energy operators can extract from a given amount of heavy metal. A higher burnup rate means the reactor draws more electricity out of each fuel assembly, generating less waste per megawatt-hour produced.

Regulatory and logistical groundwork

The technological leap required years of regulatory and logistical groundwork. Framatome spent four years overhauling its Richland plant to handle the material safely. The site recently secured formal approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to fabricate fuel assemblies with both higher enrichment levels and elevated burnup limits.

The project forms part of Framatome’s Advanced Fuel Management program. It adapts the company’s existing GAIA fuel design, which was originally developed for pressurized water reactors in collaboration with the US Department of Energy’s Accident Tolerant Fuel program.

“This contract reflects the strength of our long-standing relationship with our customer and our shared commitment to advancing nuclear fuel technology,” said Lionel Gaiffe, Senior Executive Vice President of Framatome’s Fuel Business Unit.

“Collaborating on this milestone project underscores the trust our customers place in Framatome’s expertise and the innovative capabilities of our Advanced Fuel Management technology.”

Modernizing nuclear supply chains

The deal comes amid a broader push to modernize nuclear supply chains across the United States. In August, Framatome joined forces with small modular reactor designer NuScale Power and nuclear startup Curio under a separate preliminary agreement.

That project is evaluating whether materials recovered through Curio’s NuCycle chemical extraction process can be recycled into commercial fuel for next-generation reactors.

Taken together, the two initiatives reflect a clear shift in the nuclear sector. Facing rising clean power demands from industry and data centers, operators are actively seeking ways to extract more energy from existing facilities while developing domestic supplies for the reactors of tomorrow.