Copenhagen Atomics and Urenco to build a uranium deconversion facility in Copenhagen
From the Energy digest for Nov 5, 2026
Thread: newgen — tick-2026-11-05-copenhagen-atomics · new
What happened: Danish molten salt reactor developer Copenhagen Atomics has signed a memorandum of understanding with uranium enrichment provider Urenco to construct a facility converting enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) at Copenhagen Atomics' fuel facility in Copenhagen. Urenco will help design the dedicated deconversion line; Copenhagen Atomics will source the enriched UF6, convert it, and synthesise high-purity fuel salts for its own reactors as well as for other commercial molten salt reactor developers and research institutions.
What's genuinely new: The company calls the deconversion line the final missing piece in its supply chain, enabling full in-house production of reactor-ready fuel salts at what it describes as the world's first tonne-scale fuel-salt production facility. Copenhagen Atomics is developing a containerized 100 MWt reactor moderated by unpressurized heavy water that consumes nuclear waste while breeding new fuel from thorium, with its first nuclear test reactor expected to operate at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and commercial deployment targeted in the early 2030s. It has already bought low-enriched uranium for its first reactors from Urenco, and Urenco signed a similar fuel-supply MOU with molten-salt developer Thorizon in October 2026.
Watch: the MOU hardening into a firm contract, construction and first UF4 production in Copenhagen, and which other MSR developers or institutions buy the salts.
Links: World Nuclear News · Nov 5, 9:39 AM ET