Westinghouse is spending approximately $1 billion on a nuclear fuel manufacturing plant at its Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in Hopkins, South Carolina. Already underway and scheduled to begin operations in 2030, the project will make this the first US nuclear-fuel manufacturing facility of this scale in over five decades. The broader Columbia facility has produced fuel pellets, rods, and complete assemblies since 1968; the expansion will supply existing commercial reactors and Westinghouse AP1000 reactors worldwide.
The new factory will mass-produce Low Enriched Uranium Plus, or LEU+, with uranium enrichment levels of 5% to 8%, exceeding those of standard commercial fuel. Its higher energy content enables longer intervals between mandatory refueling outages, lowering operating costs while supporting steady electricity generation. The investment also backs the US UPRISE initiative, under which utilities seek to increase existing reactors' electrical output through plant uprates. LEU+ provides additional thermal margin for that expansion without requiring new reactor vessels. First loaded commercially into an American reactor in 2025, the fuel is now moving toward broader deployment.
Alongside the manufacturing expansion, Westinghouse conducted high-temperature tests of its eVinci microreactor in September. The core achieved criticality—a self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction—at 1,225 degrees Fahrenheit. Engineers subsequently recorded a subcritical reactivity measurement at a peak core temperature of 1,852 degrees. By comparing these empirical measurements with mathematical predictions, the team can identify discrepancies and refine simulation software before committing to final prototype hardware.
