It's Thursday. Nearly every reactor in America runs on uranium enriched to less than 5%. As of this week, a plant in the New Mexico desert can sell them something stronger.
In today's edition:
📅 Event: Grid Innovation Hub coffee meetup at 9Zero, San Francisco, Nov. 12
⚛️ Big Story: Urenco USA produces the West's first commercial LEU+
⚡ Quick Hits: Samsung SDI's Indiana cells, GridPoint's battery comeback, a missile-range microgrid, Caterpillar's backlog, a geothermal data center
💰 Capital Stack: power stocks swing on the midterm results
📋 Policy Watch: Georgia's PSC flips, India funds 92 GWh of storage, PJM's backstop shrinks
But first…
📅 Event Announcement: Grid Innovation Coffee Meetup (In-Person)
Presented by Grid Innovation Hub
Thursday, November 12 · In person at 9Zero Climate Innovation Hub, 350 California St, 4th floor, San Francisco · Hosted by Adam Shaw - 9 AM PST
Join fellow grid professionals for an in-person coffee chat on advanced technology strategies and implementations on the power grid. The conversation spans generation, transmission and distribution, grid modernization, project development, operations and compliance, and venture capital, and it runs on crowd-sourced problems rather than slides. No presentations. No sales.
Grid Innovation Hub subscribers are encouraged to register for the next session.
The Big Story
Urenco USA produces first commercial LEU+ cylinder in New Mexico
Urenco USA has produced its first cylinder of LEU+, uranium enriched to 5 to 10% U-235, at its National Enrichment Facility in New Mexico, World Nuclear News reported. The company calls it the Western world's first commercial production of the material. The NRC authorized the plant to enrich up to 10% in September 2025, and all of its gas centrifuge cascades are licensed to produce LEU+.
"Through the coordinated efforts of teams from across our site and company, we can now supply an innovative fuel option for our customers and support the next generation of nuclear fuel technologies."
Most operating reactors burn 3 to 5% LEU; LEU+ fuel can let them run longer cycles with fewer refueling outages.
Some advanced reactor designs will run on LEU+ directly, and LEU+ can serve as feedstock for HALEU, enriched to 10 to 20%.
Urenco USA is installing 700,000 SWU of new centrifuge capacity at the site and aims to lift its US capacity above 7 million SWU over the next decade.
A new 2.1 million SWU plant is planned at the site, with construction starting in 2029 and first cascades producing in 2032.
Source: World Nuclear News
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Quick Hits
Small bites from across the grid.
Storage cells from Indiana, batteries for buildings, and a data center that might run on steam.
Samsung SDI began mass-producing LFP cells for energy storage at its StarPlus Energy plant in Indiana in October and has booked more than 60 GWh of US storage orders for 2026, ESS News reported. ESS News
GridPoint announced it will own and operate behind-the-meter batteries at commercial sites it already manages; about 13,000 of its roughly 21,000 sites sit in battery-friendly markets, and first proposals run about 100 to 500 kW, Latitude Media reported. Latitude Media
White Sands Missile Range gets a new microgrid after the Army Corps of Engineers awarded AACON-RavenVolt about $27 million for 600 kW of carport solar, a 500 kW / 2,000 kWh battery and 670 kW of propane generation, due online in 2028. Microgrid Knowledge
Caterpillar reported a $78 billion backlog, nearly double a year ago, and power generation sales up 30% on data center demand. Utility Dive
Pertamina Geothermal finished an initial study for a pilot that would send 5 MW from its Kamojang field to a data center for one to two years, which the company frames as Indonesia's first geothermal-powered data center. ThinkGeoEnergy
The Capital Stack
Power stocks swing on the midterm results
Investors repriced the power trade on Wednesday after Democrats' midterm gains, Heatmap reported. Vistra fell almost 14%, GE Vernova more than 9%, X-energy almost 8.5%, Constellation 6% and Fervo 4.5%. First Solar and Ørsted each rose about 5%, and the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index gained more than 3%.
Source: Heatmap
Also in the capital stack:
Shoals and Array Technologies agreed to an all-stock merger that would leave Shoals holders with about 65% of the combined company, which forecasts $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion in 2027 revenue; closing is expected in early 2027. pv magazine
Policy Watch
Georgia PSC seats went to Democrats Peter Hubbard and Shelia Edwards, giving Democrats control of the commission for the first time in two decades, and Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 banning utility political donations, Latitude Media reported. Georgia Power's data-center-driven buildout now answers to a commission with a new majority. Latitude Media
India's Cabinet approved ₹145 billion, about $1.53 billion, in viability gap funding for 92 GWh of grid-scale storage from FY2027 to FY2031: 60 GWh of pumped storage, 30 GWh of batteries and 2 GWh of other technologies, Mercom reported. Storage suppliers get a multiyear subsidized pipeline to bid into. Mercom
PJM refiled its data center reliability backstop procurement at FERC on Oct. 29, and Jefferies estimates the buy could shrink from 6,800 MW to about 630 MW after utilities cut large-load forecasts by 6.5 GW, Utility Dive reported. A smaller backstop means less emergency capacity for developers to bid on. Utility Dive
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