12/05/2002
Domestic Nuclear Plant Fuel Is Key Priority, U.S. Official Says
Energy secretary welcomes new technologies at government facility
Domestic uranium enrichment capacity is essential for ensuring U.S. energy security, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham says.
"As a clean, affordable and reliable energy source, nuclear energy is important to the nation's future energy supply," he said in a December 4 Energy Department news release.
Abraham made comments welcoming the decision by a private corporation to locate new uranium enrichment technologies at an Energy Department facility. The United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) was created as a wholly owned government corporation to operate the government's uranium enrichment venture, and later privatized.
Abraham said that new technologies will help to boost long-term, domestic capacity to secure fuel supplies for commercial nuclear reactors in the United States.
The USEC decision stems from an agreement with the Energy Department that requires the company to maintain certain production levels of enriched uranium, locate a new advanced technology enrichment plant at a government facility, and market commercial nuclear fuel derived from Russian nuclear weapons, according to the release.
An International Energy Agency official said December 4 that the United States and other developed countries might need to consider nuclear power as a viable alternative to fossil fuels in order to reduce dependency on oil and natural gas imports.
Following is the text of the news release:
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Department of Energy
December 4, 2002
Energy Secretary Comments on United States Enrichment Corporation Uranium Technology Announcement
Domestic Enrichment of Nuclear Plant Fuel Remains Key Administration Energy Priority
WASHINGTON, DC -- Responding today to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC Inc.) announcement to site new uranium enrichment technologies at the Department of Energy's Portsmouth, Ohio, facility, U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham applauded the progress industry is making to ensure that domestic uranium enrichment activities remain a key contributor to ensuring America's energy security and the future of nuclear energy.
"As a clean, affordable and reliable energy source, nuclear energy is important to the Nation's future energy supply," Secretary Abraham said. "As a first step, the establishment of new technologies, like the lead cascade facility, will help ensure long-term, domestic capacity to enrich uranium fuel for our commercial nuclear reactors. USEC, and its partners in the nuclear industry, continue to take important steps enhancing national energy security with private sector development of advanced American technology."
The site for a future uranium enrichment plant will be selected from Portsmouth, Ohio, or Paducah, Kentucky, after satisfactory demonstration of the technology at the Lead Cascade facility. With this announcement, USEC Inc. will establish a test facility for new uranium enrichment technologies and production, based on 28 years and more than $2 billion [$2,000 million] of research by the Department of Energy to establish new enrichment technologies.
Today's announcement is an important milestone in the agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and USEC Inc. signed earlier this year. The agreement, signed on June 17, 2002, is designed to meet three priorities for the Bush administration. First, maintain America's nonproliferation initiative by requiring USEC to take delivery and market commercial nuclear fuel derived from Russian nuclear weapons at no expense to U.S. taxpayers. Second, ensure the future of domestic uranium enrichment operations through USEC's agreement to deploy a new advanced technology enrichment plant at Portsmouth, Ohio, (by 2010) or Paducah, Kentucky (by 2011). Third, until an economic replacement technology is deployed in the United States, continue domestic enrichment of uranium at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant by requiring USEC to maintain production at a level of 3.5 million SWU (the standard unit of measure for enriched uranium fuel) per year.
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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
