Milestones modified to reflect previously announced American Centrifuge Plant schedule Financing milestone altered to reflect planned commercial plant capacity
BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The 2002 agreement broadly covered many areas of the relationship between the Company and DOE, including the Megatons to Megawatts program, continued operation of the Paducah plant, remediation of a uranium stockpile and the development and deployment of the American Centrifuge technology. The amendment only affects the final four milestones out of 15 included in the ACP section of the agreement. USEC and DOE previously agreed to modify the terms of the 2002 agreement. In 2007, for example, the agreement was amended to take into account changes to the schedule involving the Lead Cascade test program.
"The original agreement was concluded before any significant work had
been done on the American Centrifuge. Over the last several years, we
have adjusted the schedule to reflect information gained during the
process of commercially deploying this complex and advanced technology.
This amendment satisfactorily adjusts the final milestones to provide
schedule flexibility that will also facilitate our effort to
successfully deploy the American Centrifuge Plant," said
"This amendment does not represent a change to our announced schedule for completing the plant by the end of 2012. Every effort is being made to promptly deploy this best-of-the-industry uranium enrichment technology and to obtain the financing we need to complete the plant," Welch said. "We also still expect the ACP to have an annual capacity of 3.8 million SWU. The original financing milestone contemplated a 1 million SWU facility, but our plan has consistently been focused on a plant no smaller than 3.5 million SWU."
The milestones relating to financing and commercial plant operations and capacity are replaced with the following four milestones:
-- November 2009 - secure firm financing commitment(s) for the construction
of the commercial American Centrifuge Plant with an annual capacity of
approximately 3.5 million separative work units (SWU) per year;
-- August 2010 - begin commercial American Centrifuge Plant operations;
-- November 2011 - commercial American Centrifuge Plant annual capacity at
1 million SWU per year; and
-- May 2013 - commercial American Centrifuge Plant annual capacity of
approximately 3.5 million SWU per year.
The 2002 agreement provides DOE with specific remedies if USEC fails to
meet a milestone that would materially impact USEC's ability to begin
commercial operations of the American Centrifuge Plant on schedule.
Until USEC has met the
USEC has applied for a
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" - that is,
statements related to future events. In this context, forward-looking
statements may address our expected future business and financial
performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates,"
"intends," "plans," "believes," "will" and other words of similar
meaning. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that
are, to different degrees, uncertain. For USEC, particular risks and
uncertainties that could cause our actual future results to differ
materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to: the success of the demonstration and
deployment of our American Centrifuge technology including our ability
to meet our performance targets and schedule for the American Centrifuge
Plant; the cost of the American Centrifuge Plant and our ability to
timely secure a loan guarantee or other financing; changes to, or
termination of, our contracts with the U.S. government and changes in
U.S. government priorities and the availability of government funding,
including loan guarantees; the impact of government regulation; the
competitive environment for our products and services; changes in the
nuclear energy industry; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in
our filings with the
CONTACT: USEC Inc.
Investors: Steven Wingfield (301) 564-3354
Media: Elizabeth Stuckle (301) 564-3399
Source: USEC Inc.