A proposed contract for continued funding of the American Centrifuge Project would see Oak Ridge National Laboratory entering into a $34 million subcontract with USEC to run the program through the end of the fiscal year. A Department of Energy research, development and deployment cost-share program supporting the technology ends at the end of the month, and the subcontract with ORNL contractor UT-Battelle would start May 1. The Department said earlier this month that in order to continue development of a domestic enrichment capacity, Oak Ridge would take over management of American Centrifuge, as USEC cannot continue to fund the project on its own and cannot currently commercialize the technology. USEC is currently undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
The subcontract, which is still pending approval from DOE and the bankruptcy court, has two six-month $42 million option periods that would take it through Fiscal Year 2015 for a total potential value of $118 million. Given the proposed subcontract, the bankruptcy court rescheduled its main hearing on USEC’s disclosure statement to May 20. “A failure to approve the ORNL Agreement and permit the Debtor to obtain funding from ORNL would essentially require the Debtor to completely demobilize the American Centrifuge Project, which could clearly jeopardize its ability to realize its current Chapter 11 objectives,” states the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Delaware District.
The deal would fund American Centrifuge at about 60 percent of current levels, and would focus on monitoring operations of the currently built cascade of centrifuges but does not appear to emphasize continued manufacturing and installation of the centrifuge machines. “The arrival at this proposed agreement after the scoping discussions recognizes the value of the work that has already been done, and the importance of maintaining the centrifuge technology to meet national security needs,” USEC spokesman Paul Jacobson said. “The three main takeways are that it would continue cascade operations, it would continue the research and technology activities at Oak Ridge, it recognizes work of USEC employees and company’s skill so it maintain’s USEC’s role in carrying out the program under a different scope.”
