DOE plans to blend down about 2.2 tonnes of surplus highly enriched uranium at the Savannah River Site's H-Area to make about 3.1 tonnes of HALEU for advanced reactor fuel, under an amended record of decision issued in 2025. In February 2026 DOE said it would restart uranium recovery in H-Canyon, citing spent fuel holding enough HEU for up to 19 tonnes of HALEU.
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Current state
| Status | Program active |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina |
| Operator | US Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management (Savannah River Site) |
| Ownership | DOE-owned site; HEU stored as uranyl nitrate liquid. |
| Facility type | Downblending |
| Technology | Downblending |
| Products | HALEU |
| HALEU output (kg) | 3,100 |
| HALEU output basis | Cumulative |
| License | DOE-regulated (not NRC); amended ROD under DOE/EIS-0240 and DOE/EIS-0279 (April 2025; Federal Register notice 25 July 2025). |
| Government support | DOE Office of Environmental Management with Office of Nuclear Energy; HALEU supplies DOE's HALEU Availability Program. |
| Offtake | HALEU liquid to be shipped to an offsite commercial vendor for fabrication into reactor fuel. |
Notes
haleu output = planned total (~3,100 kg) from the 2.2 t HEU campaign, not delivered output; no confirmed production start found. The 19 t HALEU figure is the potential from HEU in SRS spent fuel inventory (DOE, Feb 2026), not a commitment. H-Canyon previously downblended HEU to >300 t of LEU (2003-2011).
Timeline
- 2025-04 — DOE issued an amended record of decision to blend down about 2.2 t of HEU into about 3.1 t of HALEU at SRS. (source)
- 2025-07-25 — The amended record of decision was published in the Federal Register. (source)
- 2026-02-04 — DOE announced it would resume uranium recovery operations in SRS's H-Canyon, with no restart timeline given. (source)
The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.
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- DOE HALEU Availability Program and HALEU allocations Program active · United States
- DOE HALEU Deconversion Services contracts Program active · United States
- DOE LEU and HALEU Enrichment Acquisition Program (task orders) Program active · United States
- General Matter Paducah Enrichment Facility Licensing · United States
- Global Laser Enrichment Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) Licensing · United States
- Idaho National Laboratory EBR-II fuel HALEU recovery Program active · United States
See all 29 facilities in the Uranium Enrichment & HALEU Tracker →
Sources
- DOE/EIS-0240 and DOE/EIS-0279: Amended Record of Decision (April 2025) — US Department of Energy (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Federal Register Vol. 90 No. 141: HEU Blend Down to HALEU at the Savannah River Site — US Federal Register / DOE (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Savannah River Site could produce 3.1 MT of HALEU as downblending plan okayed — American Nuclear Society, checked 2026-10-11
- DOE to restart uranium recovery at SRS — ExchangeMonitor, checked 2026-10-11