Wamp joins rally to reverse DOE denial
USEC Inc. was turned down for a loan to build a uranium enrichment plant in Ohio.
By Dave Flessner dflessner@timesfreepress.com
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, RTenn., urged Friday that the U.S. Department of Energy “reverse course and do the right thing” by changing its decision last week not to guarantee a loan for a company wanting to build a $3.5 billion uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio. Rep. Wamp joined a rally of more than 100 employees of USEC Inc., which applied to DOE for loans to build a demonstration plant to enrich uranium in Piketon, Ohio, with the help of several hundred workers at USEC’s Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility. “Granting this long overdue loan guarantee to USEC is the first step the Department of Energy could take to show its support for clean, safe nuclear power,” Rep. Wamp said. “This is exactly the type of innovative technology project that can help turn our economy around and create jobs.” USEC, based in Bethesda, Md., is appealing to DOE to reconsider its initial rejection of the loan request, company spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said Friday. USEC wants to bring nuclear fuel production back into the United States on a commercial basis and has invested more than $1.4 billion in the American Centrifuge project. Without the federal loan, USEC officials said they are beginning to demobilize the project, which eventually could affect up to 2,000 jobs in Oak Ridge and Piketon, Ms. Stuckle said. Earlier last week, U.S. Department of Energy officials concluded that the uranium enrichment plan wasn’t ready to move forward. “We are convinced the technology has promise, but the project is neither technically or financially ready to move forward to commercial construction,” said Matte Rogers, a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Steven Chu. USEC President John Welch said the company is not withdrawing its application and will look for other financing after spending the past year preparing its DOE funding request. “We are shocked and disappointed by DOE’s decision,” he said. “With DOE’s decision, we are now forced to initiate steps to demobilize the project.” USEC has spent $1.5 billion on the Piketon plant and offered an additional $1 billion in collateral to DOE, in addition to securing more than $3.5 billion in commitments for planned plant output, USEC officials said.
