USEC CENTRIFUGE PLANT FUNDING SET TO RUN OUT AT THE END OF THE WEEK

USEC’s American Centrifuge Project could run out of money if the company is not able to secure additional funding this week, as a short-term lifeline for a government program supporting the project is set to run out at the end of March. In Congress, hopes for the program are centered on an extension to a transportation bill that also expires at the end of this month. While a Senate version of the bill introduced earlier this month included a provision supporting the Department of Energy research, development and deployment program for the USEC project, the House later proposed a short-term extension to the bill with no riders, and this week the Senate is expected to introduce a different version of a short-term extension. The DOE program has been funded since January by a deal in which the Department took on $44 million in liability for USEC’s depleted uranium tails, freeing up money for the project. USEC said it continues to work on a “non-legislative path” to keep the project running in the event it is not able to gain support from Congress this week. That is expected to come either in the form of a similar arrangement to the previous tails liability swap, or DOE reprogramming of small amounts of funding for the project.