31 May (NucNet): Construction started today on the US enrichment corporation’s (USEC) American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.
USEC president and chief executive officer John Welch said the development marked “another important step toward deploying US-developed centrifuge technology to provide enriched uranium fuel for nuclear power plants”.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted USEC a construction and operating licence for the 2.3 billion US dollar (USD) (1.7 billion euros) plant in April 2007. USEC said the start of construction represented one of the milestones in its agreement with the US Department of Energy.
USEC expects the plant to start commercial operation in late 2009 with around 11,500 machines deployed in 2012 providing about 3.8 million separative work units (SWU) of production based on current estimates of machine output and plant availability.
A lead cascade of centrifuge machines at USEC’s American Centrifuge demonstration facility in Piketon is expected to start operation in mid-2007.
