Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle

Jeremy Dillon and Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/28/2014 It appears the specter of Yucca Mountain has entered the negotiations on a batch of uranium-233 the Department of Energy hopes to dispose of at the Nevada National Security Site as DOE undertakes a Congressionally-mandated examination of disposal alternatives, WC Monitor has learned. DOE received indications before, […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/28/2014 The Department of Energy has launched a new public search for candidates to fill on a permanent basis the long-vacant position of Site Lead for the Paducah site. Earlier this month, DOE posted the position for a second time on the USAJobs.gov website, and is accepting applications through March 4. […]

GLE TO SUBMIT LICENSE APPLICATION IN SEPTEMBER WC Monitor 2/28/2014 In a another step in a proposal to construct a new enrichment plant at the Paducah site, Global Laser Enrichment intends to submit a license application by September to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company told the NRC last week. “GLE expects to submit the […]

USEC RAMPING DOWN SITE SECURITY WC Monitor 2/21/2014 In changes to its security approach at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, USEC this week laid off security guards and de-manned a security checkpoint on an access road. USEC has been in the process of winding down its role at Paducah after it decided to end enrichment […]

USEC LAYS OFF 40 WORKERS WC Monitor 1/24/2014 USEC undertook another round of layoffs this week at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, impacting less than 40 employees who were given 60-day notices in November. Additional layoffs totaling about 110 workers are set to occur in February, according to USEC spokesman Paul Jacobson. The company has […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 Taking the time pressure off talks with the state of Nevada over disposal of a controversial batch of uranium-233, the Department of Energy has unloaded material from shipping casks it had planned to send to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal. The shipping containers were due for recertification this […]

Pro2Serve Drops Suit Against FBP WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) has dropped a lawsuit filed against Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, though the terms of the suit’s resolution remain unclear. Pro2Serve had accused FBP in a suit filed in late March of improperly trying to take […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Jennifer Woodard has been tapped to serve as the Department of Energy’s new Paducah Site Lead, responsible for overseeing all day-to-day activities at the site, effective June 15. Woodard has been a DOE employee at Paducah for the last six years, during which she has held roles such as Federal […]

FBP Names New Director of Planning WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, has named Arnie Whipple to serve as Director of Planning & Site Wide Integration, effective May 30. Whipple will replace Dennis Nixon, who is taking “early retirement,” according to a message sent to employees […]

Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) has dropped a lawsuit filed against Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. In its suit, Pro2Serve had accused FBP of trying to improperly take away work in violation of a teaming arrangement and subcontract, as well as of trying to poach Pro2Serve employees. “We settled […]

The blueprint for how the American Centrifuge Project will be reshaped is not yet finished, but the impacts are already being felt in Oak Ridge. Babcock &Wilcox, one of the companies involved in manufacturing centrifuge machines for the project, confirmed that all 122 B&W employees who earlier this year received WARN notices will be laid off. “We […]

The Department of Energy has notified Congress of plans for transferring $56.65 million to the American Centrifuge Project to fund a new contract through this fiscal year and into next, WC Monitor has learned. The funding will allow work to continue monitoring deployment of the technology under a new Oak Ridge National Laboratory subcontract to […]

A $118 million contract between USEC and Oak Ridge National Laboratory supporting the American Centrifuge technology that begins May 1 received final approval yesterday from the bankruptcy court hearing USEC’s case. The news comes after the Department of Energy backed the plan earlier this week. A DOE research, development and deployment cost-share program supporting American […]

A draft Request for Proposals for the new Paducah infrastructure services contract is set to be issued within the next 15 to 45 days, the Department of Energy said yesterday. The new contract is being set-aside for small businesses, with the procurement to use a size standard of $35.5 million, according to a notice posted […]

Moving ahead with potentially processing German experimental spent fuel at the Savannah River Site, the Department of Energy has signed a statement of intent with the German government to look at processing and disposing of the material at the site. The highly enriched uranium comes in graphite spheres from the for pebble bed AVR gas-cooled […]

The Department of Energy is backing a proposed contract between USEC and Oak Ridge National Laboratory supporting the American Centrifuge technology, according to a court filing yesterday. A DOE research, development and deployment cost-share program supporting American Centrifuge ends at the end of the month, and the subcontract with ORNL contractor UT-Battelle would start May […]

Meanwhile, during his appearance in Tennessee Friday, Moniz was asked about the administration’s plans for preserving the centrifuge technology for national security in taking over the American Centrifuge Project. There have been concerns, based on the proposal submitted in USEC’s bankruptcy proceedings, that the centrifuge manufacturing program based in Oak Ridge would come to a […]

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 […]

A hearing for USEC’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is scheduled to take place this morning in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. USEC announced in early March that a majority of its noteholders and major investors backed the financial restructuring plan, which would replace $530 millin in debt with a new debt […]

A federal judge late last week blocked Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, from hiring employees of Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) at the Portsmouth D&D project. The judge partially granted a request from Pro2Serve for a temporary restraining order as it moves forward in its recently filed lawsuit against FBP. Pro2Serve has accused FBP of seeking to violate […]

Westinghouse Electric Company and Canadian Nuclear Partners, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, announced an agreement yesterday that enables the two companies to work more closely together on global nuclear projects. The agreement includes potential joint projects in refurbishment, maintenance and outage services, decommissioning and remediation of existing nuclear facilities, and new nuclear power plants.  […]

The Department of Energy and USEC have agreed to an extension until the end of the month for a research, development and deployment program supporting the American Centrifuge Project. The program had been set to end today and no extension was anticipated, as the Department reached its orignally set limit for funding the cost-share effort. […]

The Department of Energy research, development and deployment cost share program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge technology is set to end Tuesday with no clear near-term path for the project. USEC has said it can’t continue to fund the program itself, and while the Department has about $9.5 million in appropriated funds for the project available, […]

The URENCO USA uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico yesterday completed Phase II of the facility when it introduced uranium hexafluoride gas into the plant’s last cascade. The facility’s enrichment capacity stands at 3.7 million separative work units with the second phase. “This represents a significant accomplishment for the plant; it demonstrates the teamwork and […]

The Department of Energy is planning to take over management of USEC’s American Centrifuge Project, which will be run by DOE out of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz said yesterday. A DOE cost share program supporting ACP comes to an end on April 15, and under the program’s terms DOE can […]

USEC yesterday said that the Department of Energy does not plan to extend a program supporting its American Centrifuge Project beyond April 15 and reported a net loss of $158.9 million in 2013 . American Centrifuge has been backed by a DOE research, development and deployment cost-share program since 2012. “Funding for the RD&D Program […]

The United States reaffirmed its commitment to continue developing efforts to use low-enriched uranium as a replacement fuel for research reactors and in the production of medical isotopes, according to a National Progress Report from the Whitehouse for the Nuclear Security Summit this week. The U.S. along with other international partners has been supporting an […]

As the White House considers imposing sanctions on Russian low enriched uranium , the Nuclear Energy Institute is warning lawmakers of the potential impacts of such a move. “Interruption of deliveries of enriched uranium from Russia during 2014 and 2015 would represent a serious threat to refueling outages at U.S. nuclear energy generating facilities,” states […]

A federal bankruptcy judge questioned the long-term viability of USEC in an initial Thursday hearing of USEC’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. USEC is seeking additional government support and a reorganization of its debt in the hopes that improving market conditions will eventually back its American Centrifuge Project. “What exactly is the point of reorganizing the […]

With only about two years remaining in the base period of Fluor-B&W Portsmouth’s contract for D&D of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the Department of Energy is so far staying quiet as to whether it plans to exercise an available option period or look to recompete the contract. In remarks yesterday at the Waste Management […]