US advances in uranium fuel manufacture

New York Times: The US is entering the 21st century in terms of uranium enrichment for its nuclear reactors. Until the 1990s, the federal government handled uranium enrichment. When the United States Enrichment Company (USEC) bought the enrichment plants from the government, the new owner continued to use their World War II–era systems. USEC is now operating a demonstration facility that uses more modern centrifuge technology. Meanwhile, two other companies have built, or are planning to build, full-scale centrifuge-based enrichment plants in the US: URENCO USA opened a plant in New Mexico in June; Areva plans to build one in Idaho. Centrifuges cut the amount of electricity required to enrich uranium by about 95%.