Hoping to meet a rising demand for materials to fuel nuclear power plants, Solstice Advanced Materials’ Metropolis Works facility in southern Illinois has made efforts in recent years to accelerate its conversion operations.
Company leaders announced Thursday it is now on the brink of meeting a goal it set earlier this year to increase its annual production of an essential material for nuclear fuel.
The Metropolis plant turns uranium ore concentrate, also known as “yellowcake,” to uranium hexafluoride (UF6) that enrichment facilities turn into fuel for reactors.
Solstice – which formed as aspin off of Honeywell, the longtime owner of the southern Illinois operation – assumed ownership of the Massac County site that houses the sole facility of its kind in the U.S. last year. In February, it announced a goal to produce 10 kilotonnes of UF6 annually, which represents a 20% increase of the facility’s planned 2024 output.
President and CEO David Sewell gave remarks at a gathering outside of Metropolis Works Thursday held to celebrate the milestone.
“Generations of people here in southern Illinois have developed the specialized chemistry expertise, operating knowledge and experience that is required to do this important work, and that history matters significantly,” Sewell said. “But what excites me really… is what this team is doing right now. Since 2022, more than $100 million has been invested right here in modernization and efficiency progress, and we're seeing those results.”
Sewell credited the increased output to the employees at Metropolis Works, who he said brought “the expertise, the experience, the know-how that have been able to continue to run this plant even more efficiently, more safely, and expand even faster than we ever expected.”
The facility’s production acceleration is also fueled by a five-year, $187.5 million grant from the DOE awarded last year with the aim of upping the facility’s output.
That grant was also awarded to “offset litigation costs” associated with the Solstice’s southern Illinois facility.
Solstice agreed in October to settle ongoing lawsuits and legal claims for $80 million, reaching an agreement with the City of Metropolis, Massac County and other individual and class-action plaintiffs to settle longstanding litigation relating to operations of Metropolis Works. Several individuals have also filed claims blaming illnesses or other health concerns on leaks of uranium hexafluoride and radioactive dust from the Metropolis Works plant. Representatives for the company said it “continues to deny the allegations,” and that it is not admitting to any liability, wrongdoing or legal violation by agreeing to settle these legal matters. A federal judge still has to approve the proposed settlement.
The company’s motivation to up their output is a massive increase in demand for UF6 – which is essential for the operation of uranium enrichment facilities that turn the compound into fuel for nuclear power plants.
Josh Jarrell, the deputy assistant secretary for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear energy office, said the facility – the only uranium conversion plant in the U.S. – plays “a very unique and essential role” when it comes to meeting the Trump administration’s goal of quadrupling nuclear energy by 2050.
“To meet that challenge, we need to support and expand our current fleet of reactors while also bringing new reactors online,” Jarrell said. “But … none of that can happen without the nuclear fuel and the supply to support those reactors, and that means every part of the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, from uranium production, conversion, enrichment, and fabrication has to work together, and that's what makes the work here at Metropolis Works so important.”
Sewell said Solstice’s production uptick – and the Trump administration’s push to speed up nuclear energy projects nationwide – is largely fueled by the country’s desire to compete in the electricity-hungry global computing and artificial intelligence data center industries. He said the Trump administration has talked about a proposed 400% increase in nuclear fuel supply over the next 25 years.
“With data centers that are coming up [and] all of the needs for more energy, nuclear is a safe and clean energy way to meet that energy need, and that's why the U.S. government – bipartisan – has looked at nuclear fuel as that solution,” Sewell told WKMS. “[The Trump administration’s] policies have allowed us to reinvest in our facilities, and that's why you're seeing the great growth that we have.”
In addition to the uranium conversion facility, Illinois is home to 11 of the nation’s 93 active nuclear reactors. Metropolis Mayor Gregg Jeffords said he’s happy the city plays such a big part in the nuclear industry.
“We're a small community, but we're home to the only facility in the United States of this kind,” he said. “The work being done right here in Metropolis plays a crucial role in our nation's nuclear energy supply and energy security. That's something we can all be proud of.”
Solstice’s increased production is one of the many recent developments drawing the nuclear industry to the region. Across the state line in western Kentucky, two separate projects are in the works: General Matter’s uranium enrichment plant on the DOE site that houses the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and Global Laser Enrichment’s first-of-its-kind laser uranium enrichment facility. The two projects – which represent more than $3 billion in total investments – are expected to be in operation by 2030.
Sewell said, largely, Solstice’s projected output has already been contracted through 2030. Moving forward, he added, the company expects to potentially further increase its annual UF6 production capacity to as much as 12 kilotonnes.
