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USEC Faces High Energy Costs in Blending Down Former Russian Nuclear-Weapon Material
High energy costs have spurred USEC Inc. to push forward with plans to replace its dated uranium enrichment facility in Kentucky with a modern site in Piketon, Ohio, the Paducah Sun reported yesterday (see GSN, June 29). The company operates the only commercial uranium enrichment program in the United States and participates in the 20-year “Megatons to Megawatts” program in which highly enriched uranium removed from Russian nuclear weapons is blended down to produce nuclear power plant fuel. USEC has estimated that 10 percent of the electricity generated in the United States comes from the Russian-origin material. Despite the program’s record, rising energy costs from operating outdated gaseous diffusion technology to enrich uranium have reduced USEC profits, and the company plans to open a more efficient centrifuge enrichment facility in 2013. Electricity expenses at the current facility total more than $300 million a year, according to the Sun — about 60 percent of the plant’s operating costs — and a new contract with a utility raised electricity costs by 50 percent. Still, the program has remained cost effective, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle, and is expected to remain so while the new enrichment site is built (Joe Walker, Paducah Sun, Aug. 13).
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