BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2001--The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) issued a preliminary ruling today that European producers of enriched uranium imported into the United States are being unfairly subsidized by their governments. To mitigate the subsidies' impact on the sole domestic enricher, USEC Inc. (NYSE:USU), the DOC has preliminarily determined that countervailing duties should be imposed on future imports of enriched uranium produced by Eurodif, S.A., which is controlled by the French government, and Urenco, Ltd., a British-Dutch-German consortium that is also substantially government-owned.
"The DOC has taken another step toward confirming our assertions," said USEC Senior Vice President and General Counsel Robert J. Moore. "European government subsidies have helped facilitate the sale of enriched uranium into the United States at unfair prices. If the DOC carries its finding through to a final order, it will help to ensure a healthy U.S. nuclear fuel cycle while supporting domestic energy security objectives."
In today's preliminary decision, the DOC estimated countervailing duty rates for each of the European producers. In the case of Eurodif, the rate is 13.94 percent of the value of imported low-enriched uranium from France. For Urenco, the rate is 3.72 percent for imports from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany.
If duties are ultimately imposed, they would not preclude the importation of European- enriched uranium into the U.S. market. The duties would, however, tend to offset the European enrichers' unfair pricing practices. There will be no import quotas assigned by the U.S. government.
The DOC will now require the posting of a bond or the payment of cash deposits in the amount of these preliminary countervailing duty rates. This is to cover countervailing duties against future enriched uranium imports, should the DOC ultimately rule that duties are warranted.
Today's ruling applies only to the subsidy, or countervailing duty, investigation. In July, the DOC will issue a preliminary ruling on whether imports of enriched uranium produced by these companies are being dumped, that is, sold at unfairly low prices, in the United States. Additional duties could be imposed at that time, pending a final determination by the DOC later this year.
The DOC's investigation of European enriched uranium began last December in response to dumping and countervailing duty petitions filed by USEC with the DOC and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). In January, the ITC issued its preliminary ruling that there is a reasonable indication that these imports threaten to materially injure the domestic enrichment industry.
Final DOC determinations in the countervailing duty and antidumping investigations are expected to be made late in 2001. If the DOC rules that either countervailing or antidumping duties are warranted, the ITC will then make a final determination of injury around the end of 2001. If the ITC makes a final affirmative determination, the DOC will impose final countervailing and/or antidumping duties.
USEC Inc., a global energy company, is the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
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| CONTACT: | USEC Inc |
|---|---|
| Charles Yulish, 301/564-3391 | |
| or | |
| Elizabeth Stuckle, 301/564-3399 | |