28 Nov (NucNet): The Cameco Corporation said today that it is temporarily suspending production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at its Port Hope plant in Canada’s Ontario province until the second half of 2009.
Cameco said that a dispute over a contract with its sole supplier of hydrofluoric acid (HF) has led to “unreliable and expensive deliveries of this material necessary for the production of UF6”.
The company said it has exhausted the inventory of HF it had purchased on a spot basis.
“Cameco is in discussions to broaden its sources of HF while at the same time seeking to resolve the dispute with the current supplier,” the company said. However, Cameco expects to meet UF6 deliveries to its customers in the first half of 2009.
In September 2008, Cameco restarted production at the UF6 plant after voluntarily halting production in 2007. The company said that underground leaks discovered in June 2007 had been stopped.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Port Hope UF6 Facility To Restart ‘Within Days’, Says Cameco (News in Brief No. 109, 17 September 2008)
Production Restarts At Port Hope UF6 Plant (News in Brief No. 116, 1 October 2008)
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