OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Centrus Energy Corp. held a press conference Wednesday to announce they are investing $60 million to resume using and expanding centrifuge technology. The company is trying to help make the US more energy-independent. The company said that in recent decades the US has become mostly dependent on energy sourced from other companies.
"United States is dependent, mostly, on non-US enrichment. It's a field we used to dominate decades ago, ironically we are now dependent on everybody else for enrichment and specifically for enrichment technology," said Amir Vexler, Centrus' President and CEO.
Centrus secured over $2 billion earlier this year through contracts they've made with companies from the U.S. and worldwide. The company is now eligible to receive a portion of $3.4 billion from the Department of Energy, the money will go towards building up U.S.-based energy supplies.
"In order to establish a domestic U.S.-based nuclear fuel supply that is gonna be very much focused on enrichment. It's not gonna be based solely on enrichment but it's going to be mostly focused on enrichment," said Vexler.
Centrus is also working on keeping things local, currently, much of the equipment used in their facilities in Tennessee and in Ohio was made in Oak Ridge. The company also wants to give back to the community by providing jobs, currently, Centrus employs between 140-150 people at their Oak Ridge facility. But with the hopeful plans to expand, they want to grow those numbers.
"In the long term, I can tell you that we're looking at thousands of jobs across the country. Whether it's us or our suppliers and probably hundreds of jobs here in the area," said Vexler.