REP. VISCLOSKY: ‘VERY SERIOUS RESERVATIONS’ ABOUT USEC FUNDING

Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), the ranking member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, said yesterday that  he had “very serious reservations” about the Obama Administration’s request for $150 million for R&D efforts at USEC’s American Centrifuge Project included within the National Nuclear Security Administration’s FY 2013 budget request. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu did not address  the request for USEC during yesterday’s subcommittee hearing. DOE has also recently agreed to assume liability for $44 million in depleted uranium tails from USEC to help provide funds for the ACP effort in exchange for low-enriched uranium for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tritium production needs, but Visclosky questioned what might happen if the long-term cost for the tails outstrips the $44 million liability. “Do the taxpayers pick that up or does USEC pick up the additional liability?” he asked Chu, requesting that the question be answered in writing.

Following the hearing, Chu offered a brief comment on reports that DOE is working on a program to provide depleted uranium tails to USEC for re-enrichment at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. USEC has said that such a program is a key condition necessary to ensure the continued operation of the plant past this spring.  "We don’t really want to comment on the details of any of those things but suffice to say this is regarding Paducah Plant and there are a number of jobs and we’re trying to figure out how to judge – not judge — but how to work on trying to protect those jobs and to do it in a way that doesn’t put added obligations on taxpayers,” Chu told reporters yesterday. “So we’re trying to work through this in a way that can fulfill our responsibilities to the taxpayers and also very sensitive to the jobs."