Following a recent lawsuit seeking to halt the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers, uranium conversion company ConverDyn this week asked a court to immediately stop upcoming transfers. ConverDyn filed suit earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for D.C. raising legal issues with the DOE transfers, which notably fund much of the cleanup work at Portsmouth. This week the company asked the court to take swift action. “Plaintiff ConverDyn respectfully moves for a preliminary injunction to prevent unlawful and imminent transfers of uranium from the United States Department of Energy inventory,” states ConverDyn’s June 23 motion for a preliminary injunction. It adds: “DOE has authorized, and is poised to make, uranium transfers that will roil the fragile domestic conversion market by displacing sales, depressing prices, increasing costs, and eliminating jobs.”
DOE agreed to push back transfers two weeks from July 15 to July 31 “in order to give DOE’s counsel more time to respond to this motion,” the filing states. ConverDyn has said the transfers are in direct competition with its services and would result in an additional $40.5 million in loss to the company between 2014 and 2016. Other industry officials have shown support for the injunction, including officials from miners group Uranium Producers of America, enrichment firm URENCO and nuclear fuel company Fuelco.
ConverDyn claims that under federal law DOE is required to ensure that its uranium transfers will not have an adverse material impact on the U.S. nuclear industry. “ConverDyn, which is the only domestic supplier of conversion services, has repeatedly provided information to DOE demonstrating that the transfers would and do have a substantial adverse impact on the domestic conversion industry, in part because the government will receive less than fair market value,” company spokesman Peter Dalpe said in a written response. “Even though ConverDyn’s position is supported by economic analyses prepared by DOE’s own expert consultants, DOE elected to proceed with the transfers without explanation.”
