Clean, Reliable Electricity
The United States relies on clean, reliable electricity from its 99 nuclear reactors to produce about 20 percent of the electricity the country uses each year. Today, nuclear power accounts for nearly 70 percent of the emissions-free electricity produced in the country, making it our largest source of clean energy.
Domestic Production
Because nuclear power plays such a large role in our generation of clean energy, it is vital that the United States have the capability to fuel its nuclear power plants with a home-grown source of fuel so that the country does not become further dependent upon foreign sources of enriched uranium or foreign enrichment technologies. In 1993, America produced more than 90 percent of the enriched uranium used in its nuclear reactors, but by 2008 only 15 percent of the enriched uranium fueling American reactors had been produced domestically. Centrus is working to resume commercial production in the future once the commercial fuel market can support new production capacity, which is expected to be in the 2020s.