Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle

Officials from the Paducah, Ky., area met with Department of Energy cleanup chief Dave Huizenga yesterday on Capitol Hill to discuss DOE’s future plans for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site. With the plant currently being shut down, in an effort to avoid layoffs of the plant’s more than 1,000 workers Paducah officials have lobbied […]

The law firm Zamansky and Associates announced Friday that it is investigating USEC in numerous areas on behalf of investors. “The investigation concerns allegations over U.S. Department of Energy loans, its technology, its American Centrifuge Plant and its disclosures to investors,” states a release by Zamansky. The firm will also look into a lawsuit that […]

Restoration Services Inc. late last week won the Department of Energy’s new contract to provide environmental technical services at the Portsmouth site. The new contract, set aside for small businesses, is set to run for up to five years and is worth approximately $43 million, according to DOE. Services to be provided under the contract […]

The share price for USEC’s stock surged yesterday, more than doubling over the course of the day to close out at a price more than triple where it stood just two weeks ago. USEC’s share price began at $6.25 yesterday, hit a peak of $15.80, and at market close stood at about $12. The jump […]

The Department of Energy and USEC are expected to come to an agreement this week on an extension for operations at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and USEC hinted at the possible extension in an earnings report released yesterday. “While we continue to pursue options for a short-term extension of enrichment at Paducah beyond May […]

As USEC works on the final details in an agreement with the Department of Energy to keep the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant running beyond the end of the month, it is keeping in mind that it may cost money upfront to keep the plant running, a USEC official said in a call with investors yesterday. […]

Members of Kentucky’s Congressional delegation are urging the Department of Energy to finalize its long-term plans for the Paducah site within a month, but are calling for any depleted uranium hexafluoride tails at the site to remain in Kentucky. A letter sent to DOE yesterday from Sens. Mitch McConnell (R) and Rand Paul (R) and […]

  International Isotopes yesterday reported that the first quarter of 2013 continued the downward momentum the company saw in 2012, with revenue down 14 percent to $1.6 million as compared to $1.9 million for the same period in 2012. The net loss for the company also increased to $668,892 for the quarter, more than the […]

The Department of Energy and USEC have less than two weeks before the end of enrichment operations at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant unless they are able to broker a much-anticipated extension to a reenrichment deal, but at least one utility last week said it was not interested in prolonging the program. The plant is […]

The Department of Energy yesterday released for industry comment the draft Request for Task Proposal for the new Paducah deactivation contract. The draft RTP envisions a three-year cost-plus-award-fee contract with firm-fixed price elements. Work to be performed under the contract will include facility deactivation, surveillance and maintenance and utility operations; deactivation, decontamination and demolition; the […]

Exelon is working on a deal with USEC and the Department of Energy that could extend operations of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant until at least September this year. "Exelon is in discussions with USEC about uranium enrichment," Exelon spokeswoman Krista Lopykinski said in a written response yesterday, declining to comment further. USEC is currently […]

Bidders on the Department of Energy’s new contract to provide environmental technical services at the Portsmouth site are soon set to get insight on the results of their proposals. By the end of May, DOE expects to either make an award decision or announce that a competitive range has been established, Department spokesman Bill Taylor […]

Paducah cleanup contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky, LLC, is suspending, for now, plans for a significant workforce restructuring thanks to Congress’ recent approval of a Department of Energy request to shift funds among cleanup projects. Earlier this month, LATA Kentucky said it would have to look to eliminate 145 positions, out of the company’s […]

At its annual shareholders meeting on June 27, USEC plans to have shareholders vote on a variety of issues, including recent increases in executive compensation and a move to keep the company’s stock exchange listing, the company stated in a financial filing Monday. Shareholders will hold an “advisory vote” on recent increases in executive pay, […]

Fourteen workers at the Portsmouth site have been fired after an investigation discovered falsified records associated with radiation detectors, WC Monitor has learned. Concerns over the falsified records were first raised in late April, and the site’s D&D contractor, Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, completed its investigation late last week. The matter is also under investigation by […]

USEC said Friday that it plans to end enrichment operations at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant over the next month, but it hopes to continue at least some work at the site during its transition. WC Monitor reported Friday that the Department of Energy rejected a plan to continue enrichment operations at Paducah after lengthy […]

Energy Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz emphasized the need for a domestic enrichment capacity yesterday when questioned about support for USEC, and called for a uranium management plan for the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) grilled Moniz on the topic at his confirmation hearing, stating that uranium transfers that have supported a […]

International Isotopes Inc. and Advanced Process Technology Systems, LLC have formed a joint venture and yesterday announced they submitted a response to the Department of Energy’s Feb. 7 request for Expression of Interest for the operation of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant facilities and utilization of DOE’s depleted uranium hexafluoride. "We are pleased to have the […]

At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee yesterday, Secretary of Energy nominee Ernest Moniz was questioned on a variety of topics related to the weapons complex, including Hanford tank cleanup, uranium transfers to USEC and implementation of the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. Specifically, Moniz said […]

The Department of Energy has released more details on its deactivation contract for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, including plans for it to replace the work cleanup contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky, LLC, when its contract runs out. The Department is developing the procurement in preparation for the imminent return of the facility to […]

The Department of Energy and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant operator USEC have less than one month to finalize negotiations on an extension for operations at the plant before it stops enrichment activities. USEC is currently running the plant as part of a one-year DOE uranium tails reenrichment that is set to run out at the […]

USEC announced Friday that it has completed two tests in the Department of Energy research, development and deployment program supporting its American Centrifuge project, meeting to date four out of the nine total milestones required for successful completion of the program. The two most recent tests were related to the extended feed rate range and […]

A financial filing from USEC yesterday raised uncertainty about the future of the company as it reported a hefty loss of $1.2 billion in 2012, while noting that this month USEC received $44.4 million in additional funding from the Department of Energy. The loss, which is a result of writing off previous expenses on the […]

USEC executives sought to reassure investors of the company’s future in a call yesterday after reporting $1.2 billion in losses in 2012, emphasizing that the American Centrifuge project is on a path toward obtaining a Department of Energy loan guarantee. USEC still needs about $4 billion in financing for the project—in addition to the $2 […]

A recent infusion of $44.4 million from the Department of Energy to a program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge Project came with little input from Congress. The Department called Congressional appropriators last Friday to notify them of the Administrative action being done that day, which came in the days after the House and Senate completed separate […]

The Department of Energy has awarded Navarro Research and Engineering the task order for support services to the Depleted Hexafluoride Conversion Project at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. The $20 million time-and-materials task order has a three-year performance period and two one-year extension options. The award comes just four months after DOE released a solicitation […]

The Department of Energy has issued an amended Record of Decision that paves the way for the processing of additional spent fuel in the Savannah River Site’s H-Canyon facility, including about 1,000 bundles of used fuel stored at the site’s L-Basin. The aging fuel storage pool is filling up fast with domestic and foreign research […]

  Anticipating that the Department of Energy’s deconversion facilities will run at about 50 percent capacity, international Isotopes said yesterday that it sees an opportunity to contract with the agency to help address its 1.6 billion-pound backlog of depleted uranium. Working with DOE may be the best way to secure acceptable financial backing for INIS’ […]

Two teams are challenging the Department of Energy’s award last week of a task order for support services to the Depleted Hexafluoride Conversion Project to Navarro Research and Engineerng. The Office of Environmental Management’s Consolidated Business Center has received two size status challenges claiming that Navarro does not meet the small business size standard for […]

USEC is in discussions with the Department of Energy on completing some work at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plant to prepare it for decontamination and decommissioning after a program currently running the plant ends, USEC CEO John Welch told WC Monitor yesterday. USEC completed such “cold shutdown” work previously after it ceased operations at the […]