Latest news with #Centrus
CNBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
This uranium company wants to break the grip that foreign state corporations have on U.S. nuclear fuel
President Donald Trump's push to dramatically increase nuclear power in the U.S. will require a tremendous amount of fuel, but the country remains heavily dependent on foreign state-owned companies for its supplies, the CEO of the only publicly traded uranium enricher in the world told CNBC. "There's barely enough Western enrichment, if at all, to satisfy existing operating plants," Centrus Energy CEO Amir Vexler said in an interview. "If the nuclear industry is to add all this generation capacity, there will have to be a tremendous amount of enrichment capacity that's added." Trump issued a series of executive orders on nuclear power last month that set a target for the U.S. to quadruple the sector's capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050. Nuclear energy is one of the few issues in deeply polarized Washington these days that enjoys some level of bipartisan support. Trump's push expands on former President Joe Biden's goal to triple nuclear power by midcentury. Most nuclear plants worldwide use low-enriched uranium, or LEU. The U.S. relied on foreign countries for around 70% of the fuel for its reactors in 2023, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. About 27% of U.S. fuel purchases came from Russia that year, one of the principle geopolitical foes of the U.S. But Russian uranium will be forced out of the U.S. supply chain by 2028 at the latest, after Biden signed legislation in 2024 to ban imports over Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. faces a looming nuclear fuel supply gap due to the loss of Russian uranium. Western enrichment capacity, meanwhile, is dominated by two players that are not American owned. They are France's Orano and a British-Dutch-German consortium called Urenco, according to the World Nuclear Association. The European enrichers are reliable partners and have done a good job supporting the market, Vexler told CNBC. But trade tensions threaten to disrupt global supply chains, he said on the Centrus first-quarter earnings call. "We don't have any domestic fuel cycle capacity, almost at all," Vexler told CNBC, referring to American-owned companies. "We don't mine anything, we don't convert anything. We don't enrich anything. We rely on others. And others are all state-owned enterprises, maybe with a few minor exceptions." The only commercial enrichment facility operating in the U.S. is owned by Urenco, the European consortium. It is located in Eunice, New Mexico. Centrus wants to break the stranglehold that state-owned corporations have over the U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain. "The circumstances in the market are such that we believe and we're staking everything we have on the fact that the market needs another enricher," Vexler said. "It needs competition." Trump directed federal agencies on May 23 to develop a plan to expand uranium enrichment capabilities in the U.S. to meet the needs of the civilian and defense sectors. The president's order is sparse on concrete details about how domestic enrichment will be stood up in the U.S. But Centrus' stock has gained 46% as of Thursday's close since Trump's announcement as Wall Street sees the company playing a key role in the effort. The company's shares have risen more than 7% this week as Meta's deal to buy nuclear power from Constellation Energy has reinforced the view that demand is increasing as the tech sector hunts for electricity for its data centers. Centrus is one of just two companies that are licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to produce low-enriched uranium in the U.S., the other being Urenco. Bethesda, Maryland-based Centrus is also the only company in the U.S. that has a license to produce a type of fuel that some next-generation nuclear plant designs, such as small modular reactors, are planning to use. The U.S. wasn't always dependent on foreign countries. It was the first country to enrich uranium for the commercial market and was a dominant player in the market through the 1980s. The federal government owned and operated the nation's enrichment facilities during that period. The U.S. sold its enrichment business through a company called the United States Enrichment Corp. in a public offering in 1998. USEC went bankrupt in 2014 as nuclear plants struggled to compete against cheap natural gas and support for the industry declined in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. Centrus emerged from the reorganization of USEC later that year and is now profitable. "We were just not able to compete with other government, state-owned competitors," said Vexler, who took over the helm at Centrus in 2024. When times got tough for the industry, national governments in Europe and Russia would not allow their state-owned enrichers to fail, he said. Centrus operates an enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio, about 95 miles east of Cincinnati that could one day supply a major portion of U.S. nuclear fuel needs. The Ohio facility has a footprint the size of the Pentagon and could produce enriched uranium equivalent to about 25% of the total purchased by U.S. power plants in 2023, according to Centrus. This is nearly equivalent to the amount of enriched uranium imported from Russia that year. "If that is not sufficient, if domestic requirements, national security requirements, export requirements exceed that, then obviously we have the capability to expand as well," Vexler said. The Ohio plant has not launched commercial operations yet. It is currently producing a small amount of the fuel that the developers of advanced reactor designs are banking on, called high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU. The Department of Energy buys the fuel that Centrus produces. Centrus' main business right now is importing LEU for U.S. nuclear plants with contracts that run through 2040. It has a waiver to import Russian LEU through 2025 and has applied for waivers through 2027. Under U.S. law, exceptions that allow Russian imports will cease by 2028. Centrus plans to transition away from its trading business as it stands up its domestic enrichment capacity. The vast majority of the enriched uranium produced in Ohio will be sold on the commercial market and potentially for export, Vexler said. "I would certainly aim for us to not only backfill sort of the vacancy that the Russians are creating, but I also hope that we're going to gain market share, both in the LEU and in the HALEU market," Vexler said. But this will require some level of government support given the state-owned competition, he said. Congress has passed $3.4 billion to support domestic enrichment and reduce U.S. dependence particularly on Russia. Centrus is one of several companies competing for the funding. "We've always said that it has to be a public-private partnership," Vexler said. "We've been raising our own funds. We've been raising our own financing. We will contribute significantly to this, but we have to have government support." "There is a path here where we could have a prosperous, commercially competitive American industry," he said.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Centrus Energy Stock Soared Today
Amazon (and Meta Platforms) are going full speed ahead in setting up new data centers for artificial intelligence (AI). Nuclear power plants may be the best way to generate the electricity these AI data centers will need. Centrus helps to enrich the uranium that fuels those nuclear power plants. 10 stocks we like better than Centrus Energy › Centrus Energy (NYSEMKT: LEU) stock jumped 8.8% through 3:15 p.m. ET Wednesday on (potentially) terrific news for the nuclear power industry. Earlier this year, investors in nuclear stocks -- and artificial intelligence (AI) stocks -- were all aflutter after reports said Microsoft is slow-rolling setting up data centers for AI services. And if Microsoft is foreshadowing AI doom, this might mean we won't need to build a lot of nuclear power plants to keep AI server farms humming. Yesterday, though, Constellation Energy announced a 20-year deal to supply nuclear power to Meta Platforms server farms. Today, it was Amazon's turn to give nuclear stocks a boost, announcing a $10 billion investment in new data centers in North Carolina. Amazon is building the data centers to support its own AI infrastructure -- part of a plan that could see Amazon spend $100 billion this year on capital improvements in general, AI infrastructure in particular. And what does this mean for investors in companies like Centrus, which enriches uranium for use in nuclear power plants? Well, we now have two gigantic AI firms -- Meta and Amazon -- announcing over two straight days back-to-back gigantic deals to grow their AI businesses. Whether or not Microsoft is scaling back its own AI bets (and there is still some debate on that point), if Meta and Amazon are still going full speed ahead, that means AI is still growing. And if AI is growing, then the need for nuclear power plants to fuel that growth -- and for enriched uranium to fuel the power plants -- will grow as well. That's bullish for Centrus stock. It's why Centrus stock is going up today. Before you buy stock in Centrus Energy, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Centrus Energy wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $656,825!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $865,550!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rich Smith has positions in Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Constellation Energy, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Centrus Energy Stock Soared Today was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Oklo and Centrus Energy Stocks Popped, but AES Dropped
Investment bank Blair initiated coverage of Oklo and Centrus stocks with outperform ratings this morning. Argus downgraded AES to hold yesterday. Oklo stock is not profitable and has no revenue; Centrus has both; AES stock is the most profitable of the three, but carries a heavy debt load. 10 stocks we like better than The AES Corporation › Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) stock, a start-up nuclear power company developing mini-nuclear reactors, surged more than 10% yesterday after announcing a partnership with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. Alongside Centrus Energy (NYSEMKT: LEU), the company has been riding an even bigger wave of investor enthusiasm that began last week, when President Trump on Friday signed a series of executive orders to promote development of the nuclear power industry in America. Both stocks are up again modestly today, with Oklo stock rising 1.7% through 10:30 a.m. ET, and Centrus Energy stock up about twice that -- a 3.4% gain. In contrast, electric utility AES (NYSE: AES), which does not operate nuclear power plants, seems to be missing out entirely on the nuclear stocks boom. AES stock is down 3.7% today, and down an even more dramatic 52% over the past 52 weeks. Yesterday, Oklo said it will collaborate with its Korean partner to advance the technology of its new Aurora powerhouse, as well as Korea Hydro's own "innovative domestic advanced nuclear technology, the i-SMR." The announcement seems to have caught the attention of investment bank William Blair, which initiated coverage of Oklo stock today with an "outperform" rating. Oklo plans to build a 75-megawatt Aurora powerhouse at the Idaho National Laboratory site, and says it has another 14 gigawatts of nuclear power plants lined up after that, in its "growing order pipeline." Blair says the company has laid out "a fast-tracked regulatory pathway called a custom combined construction and operating license approval (COLA)" that "will permit Oklo to capture upside from rising electricity prices, especially from premium clean energy PPAs," as reports today. The analyst also likes Oklo's vertically integrated business model, in which the company intends to not only design but also build, own, and operate its own nuclear power plants. Blair also likes Centrus Energy, but for different reasons. In today's note, the banker pointed out that Centrus currently holds one of only two Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses that have been issued for low-enriched uranium (LEU). Centrus holds the only NRC license issued for enriching uranium to high levels, turning it into what is called "high-assay low-enriched uranium," or "HALEU." This places Centrus in a prime position to benefit from U.S. government policy to decrease reliance on Russia to sell us enriched uranium for use in U.S. nuclear power plants. And Blair places a value of about $15 billion on this market -- which Centrus apparently owns 50% to 100% of! Blair values Oklo stock at $70 per share, versus the $55 and change that the stock costs today. The prospect of a 27% profit may tempt investors, but beware: Oklo remains in start-up mode, has no revenue coming in, and isn't expected to begin generating revenue before 2027. Analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence don't expect to see profitability before 2029. And Centrus? Blair has a $185 fair valuation on Centrus stock, implying that one could go up as much as 45%. What's more, Centrus is already more of a going concern, with $471 million in revenue collected over the last 12 months, and a very respectable $106 million profit. At $2.2 billion in market capitalization currently, the stock only costs about 20 times earnings. With a big Trump tailwind at its back, Centrus stock could be a winner. What about AES stock, today's big loser? AES has been in a downtrend since reporting a sizable earnings miss early in the month. (AES was supposed to earn $0.34 per share in Q1, but reported only a $0.27 adjusted profit). The Fly points out that the company's guidance for the rest of this year looked weak as well. And just yesterday, Argus Research analyst John Eade downgraded AES stock to "hold," warning of a "strained" balance sheet and growth prospects that don't get out of the mid-single digits this year. That may not sound exciting to momentum traders swept up in the nuclear wave this week. But AES stock has a lot to recommend itself to value and dividend investors. Its $7.2 billion market cap and $1.3 billion in trailing earnings mean the stock costs barely 5.5 times trailing earnings, and AES pays a generous dividend yield of nearly 7%. Does AES also carry a lot of debt? It does -- nearly $30 billion, net of cash on hand. But AES is making good use of its debt to produce profits and divvy out dividends to its shareholders. It may not be as sexy as a nuclear stock, but for long-term, value-focused investors, AES stock may end up as the most rewarding investment of the three. Before you buy stock in The AES Corporation, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and The AES Corporation wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,389!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $830,492!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 982% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Oklo and Centrus Energy Stocks Popped, but AES Dropped was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Fluor Corp., Centrus Energy, and Denison Mines Stocks Just Went Nuclear
President Trump signed four executive orders today to "jumpstart" nuclear power growth in the U.S. The orders aim to expand nuclear power production fourfold in 25 years. Uranium mining, refinement, and plant construction will all become easier under the new regulations. 10 stocks we like better than Fluor › Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Donald Trump signed executive orders (yes, plural) this afternoon "to jumpstart the nuclear energy industry by easing the regulatory process on approvals for new reactors and strengthening fuel supply chains," Reuters reports. Reuters broke the story last night, and Fox news has just confirmed that the orders are now out. Investors didn't even wait for confirmation before beginning to buy nuclear stocks, however, and shares of nuclear power plant construction company Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) is already up 8.8% through 2:10 p.m. ET. Uranium miner Denison Mines (NYSEMKT: DNN) is doing even better, up 10%, and Centrus Energy Corporation (NYSEMKT: LEU), which enriches uranium for use as nuclear fuel, is doing best of all, up a staggering 22.1%. As Fox reports, one executive order aims to reform nuclear research and development efforts at the Department of Energy, accelerate reactor testing, and develop a pilot program for building new, more modern reactors. A separate executive order reportedly will facilitate construction of nuclear reactors on federal land. A third will "overhaul" the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and accelerate license approvals, such that applications to build a nuclear reactor can be approved within 18 months. And a fourth will encourage uranium mining and uranium enrichment, such as Centrus aims to do, within U.S. borders. Ultimately, the goal is to expand U.S. nuclear power production fourfold, to 400 gigawatts within 25 years, providing sufficient electrical power to support new artificial intelligence systems that the administration is also promoting. As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explained in remarks at the signing: We're including artificial intelligence in everything we do. If we don't, we're not fast enough. We're not keeping up with adversaries. You need the energy to fuel it. Nuclear is a huge part of that. Reporting on the signings, NBC news noted that experts anticipate electricity demand in the U.S. will grow 78% over the next 25 years, largely because of AI. The quadrupling of nuclear capacity will go a long way to covering that increase in demand. All this being said, it's hard to escape the impression that a lot of today's buying of nuclear stocks has a momentum trading feel to it. Fluor stock, for example, is firmly profitable with $1.8 billion in trailing-12-month earnings. However, its actual free cash flow generated over that period was only $512 million. In other words, for every $1 in net income the company reported, it generated just $0.28 in real cash profits. Centrus is similar in this regard, reporting $106 million in earnings, but less than $64 million in real free cash flow. And Denison Mines? Denison lost $80 million last year. It isn't FCF-positive, and in fact hasn't generated any free cash flow at all in the last seven years. For this reason and others, if I were picking from these three nuclear energy stocks today, I think I'd put Denison at the bottom of my shopping list. Centrus looks a bit better, based primarily on its modest P/E ratio of 15. And Fluor looks like the best bet of all. Although I'm leery of the vast disparity between reported earnings and free cash flow, and skeptical of the stock's apparent 3.6 P/E ratio, when valued on free cash flow, Fluor stock still looks pretty attractive at only 12 times FCF. So long as the company can maintain even a low-teens growth rate, the stock should perform nicely. And if Trump's executive orders are any indication, growth could soon be coming -- for Fluor, and for others. Before you buy stock in Fluor, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Fluor wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $640,662!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $814,127!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 963% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 168% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Fluor Corp., Centrus Energy, and Denison Mines Stocks Just Went Nuclear was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DOE agrees to give HALEU to 5 advanced nuclear companies
This story was originally published on Utility Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Utility Dive newsletter. Five advanced nuclear companies have received conditional commitments for early supplies of high-assay, low-enriched uranium from the U.S. Department of Energy's HALEU Availability Program, DOE said Wednesday. The five awardees — Kairos Power, Radiant Nuclear, Westinghouse, TerraPower and X-energy subsidiary TRISO-X — met DOE's 'prioritization criteria' for early HALEU deliveries, beating out 10 other applicants, DOE said. Three of the five need fuel this year, it said. If the awards are finalized, DOE will supply the HALEU from National Nuclear Security Administration stockpiles and other DOE-controlled reserves, it said. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 directed DOE to make at least 21 metric tons of HALEU available to advanced reactor developers by June 2026. Many advanced nuclear technology companies have designed their reactors to run on HALEU, a more potent form of uranium than the low-enriched uranium used by the 94 commercial nuclear reactors in operation today. HALEU blends contain up to 20% by weight of the fissile U-235 isotope, whereas LEU is 3% to 5% U-235. Most HALEU-fueled reactor designs also use non-water coolants, such as molten metals or salts, allowing them to run at lower pressures and thus operate more safely than conventional water-cooled reactors, their developers say. Historically, DOE has produced HALEU for its own stockpiles by 'downblending' high-enriched uranium. HALEU can also be made by enriching LEU to U-235 concentrations between 5% and 20%. HALEU remains scarce in the United States, however. Civilian production is held back by 'market uncertainties and infrastructure gaps,' DOE says. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission cleared the way in early 2023 for a Centrus subsidiary to begin HALEU enrichment, but its Piketon, Ohio, plant will take several years to scale up its output. The plant has delivered 545 kilograms of HALEU to DOE and is on track to deliver 900 kilograms, or 0.9 metric tons, by the end of June, Centrus said in February. Last May, Congress authorized $2.7 billion for expanded U.S. production of LEU and HALEU-derived nuclear fuels in a law that also banned all nuclear fuel imports from Russia after 2027. In the meantime, the Wednesday announcement 'shows that DOE is ready to make commitments to nuclear reactor developers that it will supply HALEU from its existing stockpile of material in the near-term,' Nuclear Innovation Alliance Senior Analyst Erik Cothron said in an email. 'It's now essential that these conditional commitments are converted into firm contracts.' DOE will now initiate the contracting process and could deliver HALEU to the first awardees as soon as this fall, with additional allocation rounds to follow, it said. Congress authorized the HALEU Availability Program in 2020 to 'catalyze domestic enrichment capacity and reduce U.S. reliance on a complex global nuclear fuel market [and] meet the scale of future demand,' Cothron said. Existing HALEU stockpiles held by the NNSA or U.S. national labs are adequate to meet near-term demand, he added. X-energy's four metric-ton award is more than half the amount needed for the first core load at the company's first planned commercial plant, a four-reactor facility that would provide power and heat to Dow Chemical's Seadrift petrochemical plant in Texas, a company spokesperson said in an email. If Dow decides to move forward with the 320-MWe project and the NRC approves the construction permit application the companies submitted in March, those reactors could begin construction later this decade and come online in the early 2030s, X-energy and Dow said last month. X-energy also plans to deploy at least four and up to 12 of its 80-MWe small modular reactors at Energy Northwest's Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Washington, as part of a deal with Amazon that could see more than 5 GW of new nuclear capacity commissioned by 2039. Another DOE HALEU awardee, Kairos Power, said in October that it would work with Google to deploy 500 MW of new capacity by 2035, with first power as soon as 2030. To prepare, Kairos is building two low-power test reactors at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Recommended Reading Santee Cooper wants to sell its unfinished reactors. What happens next?
