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Revenue and Contracts with Customers
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
Revenue from Contract with Customer REVENUE AND CONTRACTS WITH CUSTOMERS
Disaggregation of Revenue

The following table presents revenue from separative work units (“SWU”) and uranium sales disaggregated by geographical region based on the billing addresses of customers (in millions):

Three Months Ended September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
2021202020212020
United States$13.8 $18.7 $68.6 $66.7 
Foreign 18.2 — 46.7 46.1 
Revenue - SWU and uranium$32.0 $18.7 $115.3 $112.8 

Refer to Note 12, Segment Information, for disaggregation of revenue by segment. Disaggregation by end-market is provided in Note 12 and the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations. SWU sales are made primarily to electric utility customers and uranium sales are primarily made to other nuclear fuel related companies. Technical solutions revenue resulted primarily from services provided to the government and its contractors. SWU and uranium revenue is recognized at point of sale and technical solutions revenue is generally recognized over time.

Accounts Receivable
September 30,
2021		December 31,
2020
($ millions)
Accounts receivable:
Billed
$12.7 $23.0 
Unbilled *
4.2 6.6 
Accounts receivable
$16.9 $29.6 
* Billings under certain contracts in the technical services segment are invoiced based on approved provisional billing rates. Unbilled revenue represents the difference between actual costs incurred and invoiced amounts. The Company expects to invoice and collect the unbilled amounts after actual rates are submitted to the customer and approved. Unbilled revenue also includes unconditional rights to revenue that are not yet billable under applicable contracts pending the compilation of supporting documentation.

Contract Liabilities

The following table presents changes in contract liability balances (in millions):
September 30,
2021		December 31, 2020Year-To-Date Change
Accrued loss on HALEU Contract:
Current - Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
$1.2 $7.0 $(5.8)
Noncurrent - Other long-term liabilities
$— $0.7 $(0.7)
Deferred revenue - current$259.1 $281.7 $(22.6)
Advances from customers - current$16.1 $1.5 $14.6 
Advances from customers - noncurrent$45.1 $45.2 $(0.1)

Previously deferred sales recognized in revenue totaled $28.5 million and $0 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
LEU Segment

The SWU component of low-enriched uranium (“LEU”) typically is bought and sold under contracts with deliveries over several years. The Company’s agreements for natural uranium sales generally are shorter-term, fixed-commitment contracts. The Company’s order book of sales under contract in the LEU segment (“order book”) extends to 2030. As of September 30, 2021, the order book was approximately $1 billion. The order book represents the estimated aggregate dollar amount of revenue for future SWU and uranium deliveries under contract and includes approximately $320 million of Deferred Revenue and Advances from Customers. Refer to Contract Liabilities table above. As of December 31, 2020, the order book was approximately $960 million.

Most of the Company’s enrichment contracts provide for fixed purchases of SWU during a given year. The Company’s order book is partially based on customers’ estimates of the timing and size of their fuel requirements and other assumptions that are subject to change. For example, depending on the terms of specific contracts, the customer may be able to increase or decrease the quantity delivered within an agreed range. The Company’s order book estimate also is based on the Company’s estimates of selling prices, which may be subject to change. For example, depending on the terms of specific contracts, prices may adjust based on escalation using a general inflation index, published SWU price indicators prevailing at the time of delivery, and other factors, all of which are variable. The Company uses external composite forecasts of future market prices and inflation rates in its pricing estimates.

In 2018 through 2020 the Company borrowed SWU inventory valued at $20.7 million from a customer under an agreement signed in 2017 and recorded the SWU and the related liability using the Company’s average unit price of SWU purchases under contract projected to be used for repayment. The loan is repayable only with SWU. The cumulative liability to the customer for borrowed inventory was revalued to $25.5 million in the third quarter of 2021, of which $3.0 million is included in Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities and $22.5 million is included in Other Long-Term Liabilities. The revaluation reflects an updated projection of the timing and sources of inventory to be used for repayment. Cost of Sales for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 includes the related expense of $4.8 million.

Technical Solutions Segment

Revenue for the technical solutions segment, representing the Company’s technical, manufacturing, engineering, procurement, construction, and operations services offered to public and private sector customers, is recognized over the contractual period as services are rendered.

On October 31, 2019, the Company signed a cost-share contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) to deploy a cascade of centrifuges to demonstrate production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (“HALEU”) for advanced reactors (“the HALEU Contract”). HALEU is a component of an advanced nuclear reactor fuel that is not commercially produced in the United States today and may be required for a number of advanced reactor and fuel designs currently under development in both the commercial and government sectors. The three-year program has been under way since May 31, 2019, when the Company and DOE signed a preliminary letter agreement that allowed work to begin while the full contract was being finalized.

In 2019, under the HALEU Contract, DOE agreed to reimburse the Company for 80% of its costs incurred in performing the contract, up to a maximum of $115 million. The Company’s cost share is the corresponding 20% and any costs the Company elects to incur above these amounts. Costs under the HALEU Contract include program costs, including direct labor and materials and associated indirect costs that are classified as Cost of Sales, and an allocation of corporate costs supporting the program that are classified as Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Services to be provided over the three-year contract include constructing and assembling centrifuge machines and related infrastructure in a cascade formation and production of a small quantity of HALEU. When estimates of remaining program costs to be incurred for such an integrated, construction-type contract exceed estimates of total revenue to be earned, a provision for the remaining loss on the contract is recorded to Cost of Sales in the period the loss is determined. The Company’s corporate costs supporting the program are recognized as
expense as incurred over the duration of the contract term. In 2019, the portion of the Company’s anticipated cost share under the HALEU Contract representing the Company’s share of projected program costs was recognized in Cost of Sales as an accrued loss of $18.3 million. The accrued loss on the contract is being adjusted over the remaining contract term based on actual results, remaining program cost projections and the Company’s anticipated cost-share. Cost of sales in the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 benefited by $6.5 million and $8.7 million, respectively, for previously accrued contract losses attributable to work performed in the periods. As of September 30, 2021, a total of $17.1 million of previously accrued contract losses have been realized and the accrued contract loss balance included in Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities was $1.2 million.

Work under the HALEU Contract has progressed but we have been experiencing increased delays from vendors and increased costs due to the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, COVID-19-related supply chain difficulties have also affected DOE in its supply of equipment that it is required to furnish under the contract. As a result, we currently estimate that costs required to complete the existing HALEU Contract have increased approximately $10 million over the 2019 initial estimate. Further, while we still anticipate completing the cascade in 2022, due to a COVID-related supply chain delay in the DOE-supplied HALEU storage cylinders, production will not begin until mid-2022. The U.S. Government is currently operating on a continuing resolution through December 3, 2021. On October 28, 2021, DOE increased the government’s cost share ceiling to $117.9 million and provided additional incremental funding that we expect will be sufficient to continue work through the middle of November. The Company has received aggregate cash payments of $101.9 million through September 30, 2021.

While the existing contract ends on June 1, 2022, the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget request includes $33 million to establish a new HALEU availability program, a portion of which would be used for “continuing to support the 16 machines in Piketon.” The Department has indicated that it is considering changes to the scope of the existing contract including moving the operational portion of the demonstration to a new, competitively-awarded contract, with operations to begin in mid-2022. Centrus believes it is well-positioned to compete for a follow-on contract to operate the machines in Piketon but there is no assurance that DOE will award such a contract to the Company. Congress has not yet adopted a Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bill for the Department, and there is no assurance that the proposed program, which would go beyond the scope and expiration of our existing contract, will be approved and funded.

Additional COVID-19-related impacts, delays in DOE furnishing equipment, or changes to the existing scope of the HALEU Contract could result in further material increases to our estimate of the costs required to complete the HALEU Contract, as well as delay completion of the contract. The Company does not currently have a contractual obligation to perform work in excess of the funding provided by DOE and, therefore, no additional costs have been accrued as of September 30, 2021. If the Company commits to a plan to complete the demonstration cascade and produce HALEU and DOE does not commit to fully fund the additional costs, we may incur material additional costs or losses in future periods that could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and liquidity.

Revenue for the technical solutions segment in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 also includes $43.5 million related to the settlement of the Company’s claims for reimbursements for certain pension and postretirement benefits costs incurred in connection with a past cost-reimbursable contract with DOE unrelated to the HALEU Contract. On September 7, 2021, after the final approvals for the settlement were received, the settlement agreement was signed by the parties at which time it became probable that there would not be a significant reversal of revenue. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, DOE paid the Company $43.5 million, of which $33.8 million was contributed to the pension plan in September 2021 for its subsidiary United States Enrichment Corp. (“Enrichment Corp.”) and $9.7 million was deposited in October 2021 in a trust for payment of postretirement health benefits payable by Enrichment Corp. After receiving payment, at the Company’s request the case was dismissed. Refer to Note 11, Commitments and Contingencies -- Legal Matters.