Uncertainty clouds uranium enrichment corporation's plans
An expected windfall to the US Treasury from the sale of the Energy Dept.'s commercial fuel enrichment facilities may evaporate in the next few weeks when the Clinton administration submits its fiscal 1994 budget proposal to Congress, according to congressional and administration officials. Under the Energy Policy Act of 1992, DOE is required to lease two uranium enrichment facilities, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Paducah, KY., to the government-owned US Enrichment Corp. (USEC) by July 1. Estimates by OMB and Treasury indicate a potential yearly payoff of $300 million from the government-owned company's sale of fuel for commercial reactors. Those two facilities use a process of gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium to about 3 percent for use as fuel in commercial power plants. DOE has contracts through at least 1996 to provide about 12 million separative work units (SWUs) yearly to US utilities and others world-wide. But under an agreement signed between the US and Russia last August, at least 10 metric tons, or 1.5 million SWUs, of low-enriched uranium (LEU) blended down from Russia warheads is expected to be delivered to the US starting in 1994. It could be sold at $50 to $60 per SWU, far below what DOE currently charges for its SWUs - $135 per SWU for 70 percent of the contract price and $90 per SWU for the remaining 30 percent.
- OSTI ID:
- 7291449
- Journal Information:
- Energy Daily; (United States), Vol. 21:56; ISSN 0364-5274
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
DOE hands over uranium enrichment duties to government corporation
Program summary. [Uranium Enrichment Program, 1981]
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POLICY AND ECONOMY
ENRICHED URANIUM
SALES
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
INCOME
US DOE
LEASES
ACTINIDES
CONTRACTS
ELEMENTS
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
MATERIALS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
URANIUM
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293000* - Energy Planning & Policy- Policy
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290600 - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy