BETHESDA, Md., Feb 16, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have agreed on a modification to their 2002 agreement that includes milestones related to the deployment of the American Centrifuge uranium enrichment technology. In agreeing to these modifications, DOE recognized the substantial progress that USEC has made to commercially deploy the American Centrifuge, as well as the promise of this U.S. technology and the importance of its deployment.
USEC has already satisfied 11 milestones under the agreement. The four remaining milestones relate to the financing and operation of the American Centrifuge Plant and have been modified to provide additional flexibility as USEC makes progress toward obtaining financing for the American Centrifuge Plant under the DOE Loan Guarantee Program.
This modification to the 2002 agreement extends by one year to November 2011 the milestone for USEC to "secure firm financing commitments for the construction of the American Centrifuge Plant with an annual capacity of approximately 3.5 million SWU per year." The modification also updates the other three remaining milestones relating to commercial operation of the plant as follows: begin commercial operations - May 2014; annual capacity at 1 million SWU - August 2015; and annual capacity at approximately 3.5 million SWU - September 2017. USEC's current schedule for the American Centrifuge project anticipates that it will need approximately 24 months to begin initial commercial operations upon receiving financing to complete the plant. USEC also estimates that it will require about 36 months to complete the plant after initial commercial operations begin. The modification to the 2002 Agreement milestones does not change USEC's current deployment schedule.
"This agreement updates our milestones with DOE, reaffirms DOE's support for deploying the technology, and provides added flexibility in meeting the milestone dates as we get ready to ramp up the project once financing is arranged," said Philip G. Sewell, senior vice president of American Centrifuge and Russian HEU. "The new financing and operating milestone dates do not mean that these are our target dates, or that we have revised our current schedule. Rather, these are simply outside dates that we need to achieve under the 2002 agreement."
USEC Inc., a global energy company, is a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 - 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: risks related to the deployment of the American Centrifuge technology, including risks related to performance, cost, schedule and financing; our success in obtaining a loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge Plant, including our ability to address the technical and financial concerns raised by DOE; our ability to reach agreement with DOE on acceptable terms of a conditional commitment, including credit subsidy cost, and our ability to meet any required conditions to funding; our ability to raise capital beyond the $2 billion of DOE loan guarantee funding for which we have applied, including our success in obtaining Japanese export credit agency financing; the impact of the demobilization of the American Centrifuge project and uncertainty regarding our ability to remobilize the project and the potential for termination of the project; our ability to meet the November 2011 financing milestone and other milestones under the June 2002 DOE-USEC Agreement; restrictions in our revolving credit facility that may impact our operating and financial flexibility and spending on the American Centrifuge project; risks related to the completion of the remaining two phases of the three-phased strategic investment by Toshiba Corporation ("Toshiba") and Babcock & Wilcox Investment Company ("B&W"), including our ability to satisfy the significant closing conditions in the securities purchase agreement governing the transactions and the impact of a failure to consummate the transactions on our business and prospects; changes in U.S. government priorities and the availability of government funding, including loan guarantees; 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 Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, that are available on our website at www.usec.com. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements except as required by law.
SOURCE: USEC Inc.
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