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General Matter has submitted our first license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a major milestone on our mission of fueling American power.

Spanning more than 1,000 pages, our application details how we plan to safely and securely build and operate America’s first U.S.-owned commercial enrichment facility in Paducah, Kentucky.

It contains comprehensive evaluations of the facility’s safety and impact, including our integrated safety analysis, environmental report, fire hazards analysis, decommissioning funding plan, security protocols, emergency plans, and general operational processes.

Our filing is the product of years of engineering and safety work and more than 100 engagements with NRC staff as we prepared our license application.

The NRC docket will show we’ve requested to keep some parts of our application confidential, a standard industry practice to protect proprietary and security-related information. Still, we will release extensive data, and the NRC will publish additional data in the coming months and request feedback from the public. In addition, we’ll continue our ongoing meetings with neighbors and community members and sharing information to encourage informed public feedback.

This first license application was filed under 10 CFR Part 70, the standard federal process for uranium enrichment licenses, to produce special nuclear material at our facility in Paducah, Kentucky. Next year, we intend to submit an amendment to produce High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU).

Our two-part approach — a core application followed by an amendment for higher assays — both streamlines the licensing process and enables us to begin construction sooner.

Finally, the NRC’s efforts to modernize licensing processes enabled us to request an accelerated review, a new practice for applications demonstrating high impact for the nation.

This approach reflects many months of open communication with the NRC and open access for staff to review our activities. We believe it will lead to faster licensing and authorization, bringing safe, secure, and commercially competitive American enrichment online sooner.

This approach is how we will produce LEU, LEU+, and HALEU by 2030.

Only the beginning

Our pre-construction work in Paducah has been underway for months. With the authorization of the NRC and U.S. Department of Energy, our teams have undertaken clearing, soil improvement, grading, and utilities installation.

Instead of waiting years to commence this work, the urgency of this moment demands we act now and move with efficiency.

We will enrich uranium at commercial scale by the end of the decade.

We will end reliance on foreign adversaries for the nuclear fuel powering almost 20% of our grid.

We will fuel advanced reactors and nuclear energy’s growth in the decades ahead.

We are just getting started. Exceptional talent is needed. Join us.