INT’L TRADE COMMISSION TO KEEP ANTIDUMPING ORDER ON FRENCH LEU

The U.S. International Trade Commission yesterday voted three to one to maintain an antidumping order on low enriched uranium from France. The ITC initiated a regular five-year review on the order last December, and in yesterday’s vote “determined that revoking the existing antidumping duty order on low-enriched uranium from France would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time,” according to an ITC statement.

USEC’s stock soared about 55 percent yesterday in the wake of the news from an opening share price of $6.74 to a closing price of $10.01. The company has said in the past that if the order were revoked it would endanger chances for its American Centrifuge Plant. “It appears the ITC rejected AREVA’s attempt to defeat the order by attacking USEC’s position as a U.S. producer of LEU,” USEC spokesman Paul Jacobson said yesterday. “Our long history as an enricher and our $2.5 billion investment the American Centrifuge justified the continued treatment of USEC as a domestic producer with a stake in the outcome of the ITC decision.”