11 May (NucNet): The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for USEC’s commercial American Centrifuge Plant to be built in Piketon, Ohio. The NRC said the plant would create no significant adverse environmental or socioeconomic impact during either construction or operation.
USEC said the next step in the licensing process will be the issuance of the safety evaluation report, which is expected shortly. That will be followed by a hearing held by the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
USEC expects to receive the licence in early 2007 and begin constructing the facility later the same year. Philip Sewell, USEC’s senior vice-president, called the EIS “a major step forward” and confirmed USEC is working closely with NRC to have the licence “in hand” in 2007.
USEC’s licence application for the plant encompasses an initial annual production capacity of 3.5 million separative work units (SWUs) and authorisation to enrich uranium to an assay level of up to 10%.
The company’s environmental report, which was submitted with the licence application, allowed for the expansion of the plant to a maximum annual production capacity of seven million SWUs. The final EIS issued by the NRC included an evaluation of the impact of a plant with this larger capacity.
The licensing process began in August 2004 and included a public hearing held by the NRC in September 2005.
USEC underwent restructuring last year in the face of rising costs for the plant. But the company said last month it is on target to begin uranium enrichment operations at the plant in 2009, scaling up to initial production capacity in 2011, one year later than originally expected.
USEC is demonstrating the centrifuge technology at test facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Lead cascade machines are expected to be installed at the main Ohio demonstration centrifuge site this summer and by October USEC should have satisfactory reliability and performance data for the Department of Energy.
USEC also said last month that construction costs for the plant will be 1.7 billion US dollars (USD) (1.3 billion euros), including demonstration costs and capital costs since 2002.
President and chief executive officer John Welch told the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in April 2006 that USD 1.7 billion exceeds the current market capitalisation of the entire company. He told the meeting: “To get the job done, we must maximise our assets, find new revenue opportunities, and save wherever possible, especially in the face of rising energy costs.”
