AFTER SHUTDOWN, USEC HOPES FOR WORK AT PADUCAH DURING TRANSITION

By ExchangeMonitor

USEC said Friday that it plans to end enrichment operations at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant over the next month, but it hopes to continue at least some work at the site during its transition. WC Monitor reported Friday that the Department of Energy rejected a plan to continue enrichment operations at Paducah after lengthy talks regarding a possible extension for a reenrichment program. “We will be working with DOE during the coming months and expect to reach agreement on how to best transition the site. The company and our workforce have unparalleled expertise that should be drawn on. We can provide significant value to the government in making that transition in the most cost-effective and timely manner,” USEC COO Robert Van Namen said in a statement.

USEC does not expect to return the site to the Department until 2014 in order to “manage inventory, continue to meet customer orders and to meet the turnover requirements of its lease,” according to a USEC statement. The extension agreement that had been in the works would have entailed DOE providing American Fuel Resources, LLC, with low assay uranium, WC Monitor has learned. “While we have pursued possible opportunities for continuing enrichment, DOE has concluded that there were not sufficient benefits to the taxpayers to extend enrichment. I am extremely disappointed to say we must now begin to take steps to cease enrichment,” Van Namen said.

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