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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Uranium enrichment program. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, First Session, April 8, 1987

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OSTI ID:7180431

The Atomic Energy Act is clear that the program must recover its costs over a reasonable period of time, yet there is currently an unrecovered in FY 1987, the program will spend over $1 billion in operating expenses to produce 4.2 million separative work units, or SWU's, and that means that, not including capital costs, the enrichment enterprise is producing SWU's at the cost of $250 per SWU while selling the SWU at $90 to $120. A pat of this loss is due to DOE's payment of over $500 million per year to TVA for capacity charges for electricity that is not taken. A budget resolution on the House floor recommends a requirement that domestic utilities buy from DOE to ensure that the program can recover its costs from its beneficiaries. Both TVA and DOE officials testified on the enigma of DOE having to purchase so much excess power, among other things. Witnesses also included officials from Uranium Producers of America, US General Accounting Office, National Taxpayers Union, American Enrichment Co., Inc., and Centerior Energy Corp.

OSTI ID:
7180431
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English