Earnings improved at Centrus Energy Corp., the Bethesda, Md.,-based fuel broker and nuclear technology company, in both the fourth quarter and 2020 as a whole, according to financial results released late last week.
In its Thursday press release, Centrus reported net income of $54.4 million for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2020 compared with a net loss of $16.5 million for 2019. Fourth quarter net income was $16.4 million up from a net loss of $2.8 million for the final three months of 2019.
Total revenue for 2020 was $247.2 million compared to $209.7 million in 2019. The quarterly revenue for Centrus was $92.9 million, which beat the $55.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2019.
“Despite the unprecedented health crisis posed by COVID-19, with a large portion of our stall shifting to telework, Centrus has had a great year that saw us return to profitability, improve our balance sheet and deliver value to stockholders with a higher share prices,” Centrus President and CEO Daniel Poneman said the press release.
One big milestone in the past year was getting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to accept for formal review the Centrus license amendment to produce high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU),” Poneman said. The company expects to begin demonstrating production of HALEU by early 2022, the chief executive said.
Under its $115-million, 80-20 cost share deal with DOE, which had two years of firm funding and a one-year option, Centrus was to start operating the new cascade by March 1, 2022, provide a HALEU sample to DOE by March 15, 2022 and produce at least 200 kilograms of HALEU by June 1, 2022.
The Department of Energy plans to use Centrus because it is a U.S. company with necessary expertise to make a small amount of the 19.75% enriched uranium product to be used in research and development of advanced nuclear energy and possibly national security purposes. Some suppliers for the planned 16-machine cascade had issues because of COVID-19 last year.
