BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2006--The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for USEC Inc.'s American Centrifuge Plant to be built in Piketon, Ohio. The NRC found that the plant would create no significant adverse environmental or socioeconomic impacts during its construction or operations.
The issuance of the EIS is the most recent achievement in USEC's licensing of its American Centrifuge Plant, which began in August 2004. As part of the public's participation in the environmental review process, the NRC held a public hearing in September 2005 in Piketon and took comments from 17 individuals and groups on the draft EIS. An additional 15 individuals or groups submitted written comments to the NRC. Over the past seven months, nearly 300 comments were reviewed in compiling the document. NRC regulations require the issuance of an EIS to license all new uranium enrichment plants.
The next step in USEC's licensing of the American Centrifuge Plant will be the issuance of the Safety Evaluation Report, which is expected shortly, followed by a required hearing held by the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in Piketon. USEC expects to receive the license in early 2007 and begin constructing the facility later that year.
"Receiving the final EIS is a major step forward in the licensing of the American Centrifuge Plant," said Philip G. Sewell, USEC senior vice president. "We are working closely with NRC to complete the remaining actions required to have the license in hand in 2007."
USEC's license application for the American Centrifuge Plant encompasses an initial annual production capacity of 3.5 million SWU (separative work units) and authorization to enrich uranium to an assay level of up to 10 percent. The Company's environmental report submitted with the license application also evaluated the modular expansion of the plant to a maximum annual production capacity of 7 million SWU. The final EIS issued by the NRC included an evaluation of the impacts of a plant with this larger capacity.
A copy of the EIS can be downloaded from NRC's website at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1834/ index.html#intro. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)
This news release contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that involve risks and uncertainty. Economic, business, market, regulatory, technology and other factors could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. More information about these factors is contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, which are available on our website www.usec.com. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements except as required by law.
USEC Inc. (NYSE:USU), a global energy company, is a leading provider of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
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SOURCE: USEC Inc.