The Department of Energy would have a significant amount of control over the participant in a proposed uranium enrichment research and development program under the House version of the FY 2013 Defense Authorization bill released yesterday, which would also require DOE to justify its selection of a company. USEC’s American Centrifuge Project has been DOE’s target for the R&D program—for which the Department requested $150 million in FY 2013—but the full committee version of the legislation includes provisions that would ensure USEC is not singled out. Before funding the program, DOE would be required to “utilize merit selection procedures” and enter into an agreement with the company to “achieve specific technical criteria” by June 2014. If the criteria is not met by the agreed upon dates, the company would give all property and equipment related to the technology to DOE. Furthermore, DOE would be able to “establish, acquire, own, control, or otherwise participate in the management and operations of the recipient.”
LEGISLATION WOULD INCREASE OVERSIGHT OF PROPOSED ENRICHMENT R&D PROGRAM
The Department would also be granted “a royalty-free, nonexclusive license in all enrichment-related intellectual property” and could allow third parties to use the data and intellectual property for national defense purposes, a provision that would answer questions that have been raised by congressional appropriators regarding intellectual property issues. The bill authorizes $150 million for the proposed research, development and deployment program for enrichment technology, matching the administration’s request. But before receiving funding the Department would need to justify the national security arguments it has used to supporting funding the technology.
West Virginia becomes sixth state picked under DOE’s nuclear campus program
West Virginia has been selected as a finalist to host a nuclear campus under a high-profile Department of Energy program Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) announced in a Tuesday press conference. West Virginia is now the sixth state to be considered for a nuclear lifecycle innovation campus, joining Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, which were […]