Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle

Department of Energy officials and contractors for the DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office will discuss progress in the ongoing cleanup of the former gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky. The panel, “U.S. DOE Featured Site: Lexington, KY, Office (Portsmouth & Paducah Sites),” is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. to noon, in Room 102BC. The scheduled speakers […]

Centrus Energy Corp. said Tuesday it has signed “several” sales contracts over the last nine months to provide enriched uranium fuel to utility customers that supply electricity worldwide. Fuel will be delivered through 2022 under these new contracts, valued at a total of about $165 million, the supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear […]

In a move industry watchers have awaited since September, Centrus Energy Corp., of Bethesda, Md., said Friday it will during the week of Feb. 29 lay off some 60 employees at the experimental American Centrifuge Plant at the Energy Department in Piketon, Ohio. The demonstration cascade at the site is being demobilized, and Centrus indicated […]

Industry is again girding for a policy fight over a White House proposal to partially fund legacy uranium cleanup in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee with private contributions that professional groups are calling a new tax on nuclear power. At issue is the White House’s request that Congress reauthorize industry payments, via additional charges on domestic utilities, to the Uranium […]

Ohio Lawmakers Call on Feds to Restore American Centrifuge Funding The Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday officially petitioned the federal government to restore funding the Department of Energy cut last year for a uranium enrichment centrifuge project in Ohio. In House Concurrent Resolution 30, approved with only a single dissenting vote, state lawmakers said “terminating funding […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in January established a uranium lease and take-back (ULTB) program for the commercial production of medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) using low-enriched uranium (LEU). The goal, the NNSA said this week, is to give commercial producers of the isotope access to Department of Energy (DOE) LEU from its excess uranium inventory for Mo-99 production in the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in January established a uranium lease and take-back (ULTB) program for the commercial production of medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) using low-enriched uranium (LEU). The goal, the NNSA said this week, is to give commercial producers of the isotope access to Department of Energy (DOE) LEU from its excess uranium […]

AT DOE As part of a broader effort to make a dent in a roughly $20-billion shortfall for uranium cleanup, the White House in its fiscal 2017 budget plan proposed tapping into a $1.6 billion fund that has been gathering dust since 1996. The three-year drawdown of the United States Enrichment Corp. (USEC) Fund would […]

Fluor Gets 73.6 Percent of Possible Award Fee for 2015 at Portsmouth Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth earned a $10.5 million award fee in fiscal 2015 for cleanup work at the former Portsmouth uranium enrichment facility near Piketon, Ohio, good for 73.6 percent of the total available, DOE said Thursday. In the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, Fluor-BWXT […]

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) dinged the White House on Tuesday for sticking to its guns about defunding the American Centrifuge Plant near the former uranium enrichment facility at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. DOE announced in September it would pull the plug on the advanced centrifuge facility at Portsmouth, and plant operator Centrus Energy, of […]

As part of a broader effort to make a dent in a roughly $20-billion shortfall for uranium cleanup, the White House in its fiscal 2017 budget plan proposed tapping into a $1.6 billion fund that has been gathering dust since 1996.   The three-year drawdown of the United States Enrichment Corp. (USEC) Fund would begin […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 No timetable has been set for the Department of Energy to decide if 1 million graphite spheres – each containing highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany – will be transported to the Savannah River Site for processing and disposal. The department must first go through several courses of action, including […]

U.S. Centrus Energy said last week it has received approval from NYSE MKT for a plan to ensure it remains listed on the stock exchange after falling out of compliance last year. “As a result, the Company’s common stock will continue to be traded on the NYSE MKT, subject to ongoing monitoring by the exchange […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 U.S. Republicans and Democrats both support the call for an updated assessment of potential threats before shipments of liquid highly enriched uranium from Canada cross international borders and travel to the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. But the Department of Energy has not budged from its stance that existing studies show […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Highly enriched uranium (HEU) minimization in civilian research reactors is more difficult and progressing more slowly than previously expected, according to a study released last week by a National Academy of Sciences committee. The study said the timeline for global elimination of HEU use in civilian reactors and reactor conversions to […]

Centrus Energy said last week it has received approval from NYSE MKT for a plan to ensure it remains listed on the stock exchange after falling out of compliance last year. “As a result, the Company’s common stock will continue to be traded on the NYSE MKT, subject to ongoing monitoring by the exchange and […]

Highly enriched uranium (HEU) minimization in civilian research reactors is more difficult and progressing more slowly than previously expected, according to a study released last week by a National Academies of Science committee. The study said the timeline for global HEU elimination in civilian reactors and reactor conversions to low-enriched uranium will be “dramatically expanded” compared […]

WC Monitor 1/29/2016 Fluor Marks First Paducah Demolition of 2016 Department of Energy contractor Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project already in 2016 has demolished the first of 12 inactive facilities to be razed soon at the former gaseous diffusion plant near Paducah, Ky., the DOE Office of Environmental Management Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office announced Tuesday. The C-746-B […]

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, prime contractor on the decontamination and decommissioning project at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, said on Tuesday that it had marked 2 million safe work hours.   The safety run began in August 2015, according to a press release. Safe work hours are “hours without a lost-time accident,” Fluor-BWXT said. There […]

Department of Energy contractor Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project already in 2016 has demolished the first of 12 inactive facilities to be razed soon at the former gaseous diffusion plant near Paducah, Ky., the DOE Office of Environmental Management Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office announced Tuesday.    The C-746-B warehouse Fluor Paducah just knocked down is one of […]

Portsmouth Mission Alliance of Idaho Falls, Idaho, will provide infrastructure support services at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, under a Department of Energy contract worth up to $140 million over about five years, the agency announced Jan. 15. Under the firm-fixed-price deal, Portsmouth Mission Alliance will provide what amounts to support service […]

The head of a union representing cleanup workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, joined Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) for President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address on Tuesday.   Herman Potter, president of United Steelworkers Local 689, drew the invitation for being “a friend and a steadfast partner in […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 1/8/2016 The operator of the depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion (DUF6) plants at Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio, has received a contract extension of up to nine months, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced in late December. BWXT Conversion Services’ contract update is worth up to $68 million. Extending […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/8/2016 A decision on potential layoffs at the American Centrifuge Project (ACP) plant in Piketon, Ohio, is expected next week in the event that the Department of Energy (DOE) maintains its choice to defund the facility, a source familiar with the situation said Thursday. Approximately 60-70 employees at the plant received […]

Centrus Energy Corp. said Wednesday it has established a new advisory board of five national security and energy industry veterans. Centrus, an enriched uranium fuel supplier for commercial nuclear power plants, said its board members “will advise senior management in its efforts to restore America’s domestic uranium enrichment capability for national security purposes and to […]

The operator of the depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion (DUF6) plants at Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio, has received a contract extension of up to nine months, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced on Dec. 24. BWXT Conversion Services’ contract update is worth up to $68 million. Extending the contract, which was due […]

Centrus Energy and Tenex announced Tuesday that they have agreed to extend a long-term supply contract for Russian low-enriched uranium through 2026. Signed in 2011, the agreement includes Centrus’ commitment to purchase 17 million separative work units from Tenex between 2016 and 2022. According to a Centrus press release, the extension defers delivery on some […]

The site director for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant decontamination and decommissioning project in Ohio confirmed on Sunday that massive layoffs should not be necessary in the current fiscal year. Project contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth had prepared to lay off up to 500 workers this fall due to reduced funding from the Department of Energy and […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 12/18/2015 The Department of Energy has determined there is no need for a new supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) before a liquid form of highly enriched uranium is transported from Canada to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Stakeholders, including nuclear watchdogs and congressmen, have called for an EIS before […]

The Department of Energy has determined there is no need for a new supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) before a liquid form of highly enriched uranium is transported from Canada to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Stakeholders, including nuclear watchdogs and congressmen, have called for an EIS before more than 6,000 gallons of […]