USEC MEETS FINAL THREE MILESTONES IN AMERICAN CENTRIFUGE PROGRAM

USEC announced yesterday that it has met three additional milestones in the Department of Energy research, development and deployment cost-share program supporting the American Centrifuge Plant. Over the weekend “a full production-scale cascade of 120-machines achieved 20-machine years of operations at commercial plant specifications,” according to a USEC release. That met three milestones for the program that must now be certified by DOE, including “demonstrating centrifuge manufacturing quality, centrifuge operational reliability and demonstration of sustained production of 340 SWU at commercial conditions for 20-machine years.” While the milestones are being certified, USEC plans to do additional testing on the cascade.

The RD&D program, which is slated to wrap up on Jan. 15, aims to demonstrate the technology on a commercial milestone includes nine technical milestones, six of which have already been certified with the remaining three met last weekend awaiting DOE certification. However, the future of American Centrifuge remains uncertain, as USEC said last month that due to its financial situation it may need to demobilize the project in 2014 if it does not receive additional government support. “The RD&D program is designed with DOE to demonstrate the technological readiness of the American Centrifuge to meet national security needs,” USEC CEO John Welch said in a statement. “We continue to work with DOE and the Congress to determine the American Centrifuge’s role in meeting those needs as we continue to pursue the development and deployment of this important technology.”