BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 2006--Regulatory oversight of USEC Inc.'s (NYSE:USU) American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility will transfer from the U.S. Department of Energy to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission tomorrow, the parties announced today during a ceremony at the commission's headquarters in Rockville, Md.
The transition of oversight to the NRC allows USEC to begin operating centrifuge machines with uranium hexafluoride in the Piketon, Ohio facility, as authorized under a license issued by the NRC to the Company in 2004. Up to now, the USEC refurbishment activities at the former DOE Gaseous Centrifuge Enrichment Plant have been performed under DOE regulatory oversight. USEC expects to operate a small number of machines by late summer to verify cascade configuration and support systems functionality. The Company expects to have a full Lead Cascade operating by mid-2007.
To prepare for the transfer, the NRC conducted several months of Operational Readiness Reviews and issued their satisfactory report earlier this month. Both DOE and NRC had established a structured transition process as part of a memorandum of understanding signed in March 2004.
"This transition marks the beginning of an exciting period in USEC's deployment of the American Centrifuge," said Philip G. Sewell, USEC senior vice president. "We can now proceed with testing of machines configured in a cascade in order to gather the remaining data we need to optimize the economics of the technology."
USEC Inc., a global energy company, is a leading provider of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
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.
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SOURCE: USEC Inc.