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FACTBOX-What is uranium enrichment? | Markets | Reuters
Uranium, the silvery-white mineral that powers nuclear reactors, is capturing growing attention amid burgeoning demand for power from emerging nations and a scramble to curtail carbon emissions.
Here are some details about the uranium enrichment process:
* WHAT IT MEANS:
-- Enrichment is a process of increasing the proportion of fissile isotope found in uranium ore (represented by the symbol 'U') to make it usable as nuclear fuel or the compressed, explosive core of nuclear weapons.
* WHY URANIUM MUST BE ENRICHED:
A technical evaluation of the Fordow fuel enrichment plant | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Article Highlights
* Revelations about Iran's secret Fordow fuel enrichment plant have been seen as proof that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
* But the facility's small capacity makes enriching either reactor-grade or even bomb-grade uranium extremely time-consuming and impractical.
* Although it is significant that Iran has officially declared that there are no further secret nuclear facilities such as Fordow inside the country, it's possible that this facility could be one of several that has been either built or planned.
When Iran's Fordow fuel enrichment plant first became public on September 25 at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, the underground facility, located near the holy city of Qom, was widely portrayed as proof that Tehran was pursuing nuclear weapons. In particular, U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed that the clandestine enrichment plant's "size and configuration" were "inconsistent with that of a peaceful program."
Nuclear Plant Promises Called Blank Sheet of Paper - Huntington News Network
A meeting of the Department of Energy’s Site Specific Advisory Board for clean up and reuse of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant at Piketon brought forth a tug of war. Much like the Huntington downtown Superblock which lay fallow for nearly 30 years, uses for the contaminated site break down to two camps: Clean up the radioactive waste that still kills former workers versus possibly attracting a so-called new nuclear plant that would allegedly be safe.
The latter would bring jobs to an area starving for employment. But, many nearby residents do not trust the statements that a ‘new’ nuclear plant would not continue the odyssey of cover ups since the former facility opened during the Cold War in the 1950s.
However, after an elaborate news conference in the summer of 2009, the project dropped off the radar.
Activist and former Piketon employee Vina Colley, referred to past contamination as a reason to avoid nuclear power. “All of their drains and laundry [water] where they washed contaminated clothes and [water from] equipment washed off went into the local creeks, which emptied into the Scioto River, then filtered to the Ohio and down to the Mississippi. We’re not the only ones affected. The whole world is affected by what these nuclear facilities are producing and releasing into the environment.”
NRC Finalizes New Jersey Agreement To Regulate Certain Radioactive Materials - Nuclear Power Industry News
Nuclear Power Industry New is a blog about utilities, companies, suppliers in the nuclear energy market.
NRC Finalizes New Jersey Agreement To Regulate Certain Radioactive Materials
NRC will transfer an estimated 500 licenses for radioactive material to New Jersey’s jurisdiction
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed an agreement with New Jersey, under which the state will assume NRC’s regulatory authority over certain radioactive materials. New Jersey becomes the 37th NRC Agreement State, effective Sept. 30.
Under the agreement, the NRC will transfer to New Jersey the responsibility for licensing, rulemaking, inspection and enforcement activities for: (1) radioactive materials produced as byproducts from the production or utilization of special nuclear material (SNM – enriched uranium or plutonium); (2) naturally occurring or accelerator-produced byproduct material (NARM); (3) source material (uranium and thorium); (4) SNM in quantities not sufficient to support a nuclear chain reaction; and (5) the regulation of the land disposal of source, byproduct, and SNM received from other persons.
Loan guarantee expected by USEC in August | chillicothegazette.com | Chillicothe Gazette
A decision by the U.S. Department of Energy on whether the United States Enrichment Corp. (USEC) should receive a federal loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge plant in Piketon should come next month, the company says.\nAdvertisement\n\n"Based on ongoing discussions with DOE, we expect a decision on a conditional commitment by early August," said Philip G. Sewell, senior vice president of American Centrifuge and Russian HEU.\n\nThe company has repeatedly said the loan guarantee is essential to keeping the project - which is expected to keep and create thousands of jobs in an area with double-digit unemployment - alive.\n\nSewell said the company is working on a Plan B strategy in case the guarantee is not secured.
Tennessee legislators push Chu for USEC loan guarantee | Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground | knoxnews.com
State Sen. Randy McNally, a Republican from Oak Ridge, was among seven Tennessee senators who signed a letter asking Energy Secretary Steven Chu to intervene on behalf of USEC in granting a loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge Project.
McNally is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Others who signed the letter were Speaker Pro Tempore Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville, and state Sens. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown; Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville; Mike Faulk, R- Church Hill; Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville; and Ken Yager, R-Harriman.
In a statement, McNally said, "The American Centrifuge Project is one of those key opportunities where we can promote innovative American technologie, while creating good-paying Tennessee jobs and reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy."
NRC - NRC Requires Improvements at USEC Paducah Facility
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued three Confirmatory Orders to the United States Enrichment Corporation’s Paducah, Ky., facility as part of settlement agreements involving three unrelated issues.
One issue involved operators concealing damaged equipment and falsifying records while moving a uranium hexafluoride cylinder. In the second issue, classified information was mishandled when a package was sent to an unapproved mailing address. The third issue stemmed from a U.S. Department of Labor decision that USEC retaliated against a former manager and an NRC concern for the potential influence this would have on the willingness of other employees to raise safety concerns.
In each case, USEC requested the alternative dispute resolution process, which includes the use of a mediator, to resolve its differences with the NRC concerning the apparent violations and to discuss corrective actions. The confirmatory orders document USEC’s commitments to the NRC reached as part of the NRC’s ADR process, which can be requested in place of traditional NRC enforcement. Often, the ADR process is more effective in developing effective long-term corrective actions than traditional enforcement.
NRC - NRC Accepts GE-Hitachi Application for Uranium Enrichment Facility in North Carolina
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for formal review an application by General Electric-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment for a license to construct and operate a uranium enrichment plant using laser technology in Wilmington, N.C.
GE-Hitachi submitted the application in two stages: an environmental report, submitted on Jan. 30, and a safety report, tendered on June 26. The NRC staff has completed an initial acceptance review and determined that the application is sufficiently complete for the agency to begin its formal licensing reviews. The agency has already requested additional information from the applicant, and additional requests are possible throughout the licensing review. Acceptance of the application for review does not indicate whether the Commission will issue a license.
The Associated Press: Idaho's Risch backs deal to help enrichment plant
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch would back doubling federal loan guarantees for U.S. uranium enrichment projects to $4 billion and awarding half to a proposed new Ohio plant, if that's what it takes to help a competing proposal in Idaho that the first-term Republican fears could fall victim to politics.
Risch told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday the political clout of lawmakers in Ohio, an important battleground state in presidential politics, could wind up hurting efforts by French-owned Areva Inc. to secure the $2 billion the Department of Energy currently has set aside for loan guarantees to uranium enrichment projects.
USEC Inc. was told by the DOE in late July it wouldn't get the guarantees because its partially built plant near Cincinnati wasn't ready to go forward. Just a week later, however, the agency offered the Bethesda, Md.-based-company another six months before doing a final review of the loan application.
DOE denies USEC's loan guarantee; layoffs coming | Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground | knoxnews.com
The Department of Energy has denied USEC Inc.'s application for a $2 billion loan guarantee, and the company has started "demobilizing" the American Centrifuge Project, which currently employs about 450 at its Oak Ridge manufacturing site.
"There will be layoffs," USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said this morning. However, the number and the timing of those layoffs has not been determined, she said..
USEC loan app stirs support, opposition | chillicothegazette.com | Chillicothe Gazette
As USEC Inc. eagerly awaits word from the U.S. Department of Energy on approval of its loan request, local elected officials have been working hard to lobby on behalf of the company.
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Thursday, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Steven Chu, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy requesting a meeting to ask him to approve the loan.
"We are writing to express our concern that the loan guarantee application made by USEC Inc. for the American Centrifuge Plant has not received a conditional commitment," the letter read.
USEC Inc. is a private company leasing land owned by the Department of Energy in Piketon. The company is constructing the American Centrifuge Plant with the intent of enriching uranium for energy. Last summer, it applied for a $2 billion loan guarantee. With the loan guarantee, the company hopes to continue construction efforts to have the plant operational by 2011.
Piketon plant blaze results in no injuries, minor damage | chillicothegazette.com | Chillicothe Gazette
No injuries and minor damage were reported in a Thursday fire in an inactive cooling tower at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant.
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According to the Department of Energy, the fire was reported at 4:30 p.m. on the east side of the plant. At 5:15 p.m., the fire was said to have no off-site impact.
The fire broke out in some decking of the cooling tower, which was being removed after high winds in Saturday's storms damaged the tower. The cooling tower is one of several at the site scheduled to be decontaminated and decommissioned in the coming months with aid from American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds.
Tenn-Ohio delegation prods Chu on USEC loan guarantee | Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground | knoxnews.com
USEC is threatening to begin demobilizing its American Centrifuge Project in August if the Dept. of Energy doesn't move forward with a commtiment on a loan guarantee, and elected officials from Tennessee and Ohio are asking Energy Secretary Steven Chu to intervene directly in the matter.
A letter signed by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, and U.S. Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, was sent to Chu this week.
The officials said the American Centrifuge project would solidify American's leadership in uranium-enrichment technology and create about 8,000 jobs across the country. All that is being threatened because of delays on the loan guarantees, they wrote.
USEC Anticipates Loan Guarantee Decision by Early August
USEC Inc. (NYSE:USU) today announced that it expects the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to make a decision on a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee by early August. A loan guarantee conditional commitment would allow USEC to continue deployment of its American Centrifuge Plant, currently being built in Piketon, Ohio, and would ensure the security of thousands of jobs created across the country by the plant’s construction and manufacturing activities.
The Company also said that at the direction of its board of directors it is preparing demobilization plans for the American Centrifuge Plant if it does not receive a conditional commitment by early August. USEC announced in February a slowdown in the planned escalation of spending on the project and has stated that a further delay in obtaining a DOE loan guarantee would require the Company to implement further project spending reductions.
PR-USA.net - Potential Uranium Enrichment in Canada Faces Barriers
A study released today by The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) concludes that uranium enrichment in Canada is likely to be more profitable for the Canadian nuclear industry than exporting natural uranium and buying it back in enriched form.
Uranium Enrichment in Canada provides a detailed analysis of the Canadian mining of uranium, its subsequent processing, current enrichment technologies and the capital and operating costs of a modern centrifuge enrichment plant. It explains Canada's position as the world's largest producer and exporter of uranium, with an active nuclear power sector, but without the capability to enrich uranium.
GE’s uranium enrichment venture still on track | StarNewsOnline.com | Star News | Wilmington, NC
GE’s uranium enrichment venture has completed its license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, staying on schedule with its efforts which are expected to bring more than 500 construction jobs to Castle Hayne as early as 2012.
Global Laser Enrichment – a business venture of nuclear power plant builders GE and Hitachi, and uranium miner Cameco – announced Tuesday completion of the venture’s license application seeking the NRC’s approval to build the world’s first commercial uranium enrichment facility to use laser technology.
GE, Hitachi to Seek Guarantees for Nuclear Project (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
General Electric Co., Hitachi Ltd. and Cameco Corp. plan to seek U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantees to help finance a venture that would use lasers to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel.
GE Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment said today it completed an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the world’s first commercial uranium enrichment plant to use laser technology.
The proposed development in Wilmington, North Carolina, would create as many as 300 permanent engineering and support jobs, as well as employ more than 500 workers during construction, Tammy Orr, chief executive officer of Wilmington- based GE Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment, said today in a telephone interview.
Columbus Dispatch : Older nuke project at risk
Even as an announcement of a plan for a nuclear-power plant was celebrated last week in Piketon, Ohio, a uranium-enrichment plant project on the same site that is to begin operating by 2011 teetered on financial collapse.
Announced 5 1/2 years ago with almost as much hoopla as the proposed nuclear project got last week, plans for the $3.5 billion enrichment plant could be dashed unless the Obama administration soon approves a $2 billion federal loan guarantee, says USEC, the suburban-Washington company slated to build the facility.
USEC applied for the loan guarantee 10 months ago under a $38.5 billion Department of Energy program launched by the Bush administration to encourage various renewable-energy and nuclear-power ventures. An enrichment plant makes material that fuels nuclear-power plants.
Enrichment without IAEA checks mulled | The Japan Times Online
Japan may entrust uranium enrichment to a Russian nuclear plant not inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, sources knowledgeable about Japan-Russia relations said Sunday.
Such a move would indicate Tokyo is turning a blind eye to the principle of a recently struck bilateral deal that stipulates Moscow must accept IAEA checks.
The purpose of the provision is to ensure that Japanese nuclear material is not taken advantage of for Russian military purposes.
NRC: - NRC to Hold Public Meeting June 4 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Environmental Review for Proposed Enrichment Plant
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting June 4 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to seek comments about specific issues that should be addressed in its environmental review of a proposed uranium enrichment facility.
The meeting will be held at the Shilo Inn, 780 Lindsay Blvd. in Idaho Falls, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. NRC staff members will be available for an hour prior to the meeting to speak informally to members of the public.
AREVA Enrichment Services LLC submitted an application Dec. 30, 2008, for a license to construct and operate a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility near Idaho Falls. AREVA resubmitted its application April 24 to double the facility’s proposed production capacity.
The proposed facility would enrich uranium for use in the production of fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors.
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