Framatome’s nuclear fuel manufacturing facility north of Richland has secured another federal approval allowing it to expand its range of fuels as it jockeys to be a major supplier for the next generation of nuclear power plants.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently approved Framatome’s request to amend its license to manufacture fuel with uranium enrichment levels up to 10%. It follows on another amendment approval only weeks prior allowing the facility to manufacture fuel enriched above 5% for light water reactors.

Being permitted to work with higher enrichment levels keeps the facility on the path to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, fuel, which is utilized by small modular reactors, or SMRS, and other advanced reactors. HALEU requires fuel enriched up to 20%.

“This is the latest step in reshaping the nuclear fuel market for the next generation of reactors,” said Lionel Gaiffe, senior executive vice president of Framatome’s Fuel Business Unit, in a statement. “Built on more than five decades of nuclear fuel manufacturing expertise, this approval uniquely positions us to deliver advanced fuel products to support the future of our industry.”

Framatome, which employs 580 people in Richland, produces uranium dioxide powder, pellets, fuel rods and fuel assemblies for commercial nuclear power plants worldwide.

Five percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. comes from fuel manufactured in Richland.  Running 24 hours a day, it produces 10 different types of fuel and a variety of arrays to fit different nuclear reactors, making the facility “reactor agnostic.” 

The company has notched milestone after milestone in recent months as it seeks to build out its capacity after decades of a stagnating domestic nuclear fuel market.

Framatome was one of a handful of companies announced in May that will receive a share of $94 million in federal funding to build out fuel production for the next generation of nuclear power reactors, and that money is expected to come directly to its Richland plant. It will be used to increase the number of ceramic pellet production lines, adding about 200 metric tons of uranium of annual capacity.   

In March, Framatome and NuScale Power Corp., based in Corvallis, Oregon, expanded their existing partnership, including putting the Richland facility on notice to fabricate fuel for NuScale’s small modular nuclear reactor fuel technology in the next five years 

In October, Framatome announced a joint venture with Standard Nuclear, the United States’ only independent developer of TRISO fuel, made for the next generation of nuclear reactors. 

The Richland facility has spent millions of dollars on facility upgrades, including a $900,000 warehouse that will further expand onsite storage. That project is expected to be completed in August.