SENS. CONCERNED ABOUT DOE’S PLANS FOR AMERICAN CENTRIFUGE

Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee leaders are questioning the Department of Energy on possible future support for USEC’s American Centrifuge Project. The company said recently it would need help from the government to keep the project running smoothly in early 2014 after the end of a DOE R&D program for ACP. Subcommittee chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) sent a letter to DOE Tuesday expressing “serious concerns about the future fo the American Centrifuge Project,” adding that given USEC’s financial issues “we are disappointed that we have not yet had any communication from the Department on its plans for the future of ACP.”   

Feinstein in the past has criticized DOE for previous administrative actions supporting USEC projects taken without approval  from Congress. This week, Feinstein and Alexander asked DOE to tell them by Nov. 29 what options the Department is considering “to ensure a supply of enriched uranium for national security needs, with or without the ACP, providing specific information about costs, risks, and timelines for each option.” It also asks “when we should expect a decision from the Department on how to proceed with the ACP or other options.”