PADUCAH EXTENSION COMING THIS WEEK, USEC REPORTS $2M LOSS

The Department of Energy and USEC are expected to come to an agreement this week on an extension for operations at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and USEC hinted at the possible extension in an earnings report released yesterday. “While we continue to pursue options for a short-term extension of enrichment at Paducah beyond May 31, we also continue to prepare to cease enrichment in early June,” USEC CEO John Welch said in a statement. Specific details of the deal are unclear at this time, but it is likely to extend operations through at least the end of the fiscal year and involve continued reenrichment of uranium tails. USEC is currently running the plant under a one-year DOE-brokered re-enrichment program from DOE’s stockpile of depleted uranium tails that is set to run out at the end of the month. While an extension has not yet been finalized, one is expected to come this week to avoid actions that would complicate continued operations, WC Monitor has learned.  

USEC reported a net loss of $2 million in the first quarter of 2012 yesterday, an improvement over the $28.8 million loss reported in the first quarter of 2012. While revenue and profits were down this quarter, the company reported the $35.6 million sale of its subsidiary NAC International and  $47.6 million from the Department of Energy as part of a cost-share program supporting the American Centrifuge Plant. However, the company paid off an $83.2 million loan and $209.8 million account to Russia that quarter. “The decline in our cash balance at the end of the first quarter was the expected result of paying off our term loan in the first quarter and a substantial year-end payable to the Russians under the Megatons to Megawatts program. We expect the cash balance to improve over the next several quarters through positive cash flow from operations,” Welch said.