USEC Applauds $150 Million Funding Request for American Centrifuge in President’s FY 2013 Budget
February 13 2012 - 2:02PM
Business Wire
USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) President and CEO John Welch today praised
the inclusion of $150 million in President Obama’s fiscal year 2013
budget proposal for a cooperative research, development and
demonstration (RD&D) program to support the American Centrifuge
Project, the next-generation U.S. uranium enrichment
technology.
“Inclusion in the President’s budget affirms that the American
Centrifuge is a national priority, and we welcome this strong
signal of support,” Welch said. “The Department of Energy (DOE)
first proposed the RD&D effort last year to demonstrate the
technical and financial readiness of moving the American Centrifuge
toward commercial deployment. Since then we have been working with
Congress and DOE to put the necessary funding in place. But it’s
important to remember that interim funding for this program is only
available through March 2012 and we must still get RD&D funding
for the remainder of government fiscal year 2012 to ensure that we
can continue this vital activity.”
The RD&D program will support building, installing and
operating a 120-machine cascade and related support systems that
will be replicated in 96 identical cascades in a full commercial
plant in Piketon, Ohio. The program will support 2,000 jobs across
the country, especially in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia,
Alabama, Tennessee, Michigan and Indiana. It will also preserve the
U.S. government’s ability to produce enriched uranium to support
U.S. national security needs.
“We will continue to work with Congress and the Department of
Energy to find funding for the RD&D program for the remainder
of FY 2012,” Welch added.
USEC Inc., a global energy company, is a leading supplier of
enriched uranium fuel and nuclear industry related services for
commercial nuclear power plants.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” (within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995) that involve risks and uncertainty. For USEC, particular
risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual future results
to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to: risks that the RD&D
funding requested in the President’s FY 2013 budget may not be
approved by Congress in its proposed form or at all; the outcome of
ongoing discussions with the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”)
regarding the RD&D program, including uncertainty regarding the
timing, amount and availability of funding for such RD&D
program and the dependency of government funding on Congressional
appropriations and the potential for us to make a decision at any
time to further reduce spending and demobilize the project based on
the timing and likelihood of an agreement with DOE and any
government funding; the impact of any conditions that are placed on
us or on the American Centrifuge project in connection with or as a
condition to the RD&D program or other funding, including a
restructuring of our role and investment in the project;
limitations on our ability to provide any required cost sharing
under the RD&D program; the ultimate success of efforts to
obtain a DOE loan guarantee and other funding needed for the
American Centrifuge project, including the ability through the
RD&D program or otherwise to address the concerns raised by DOE
with respect to the financial and project execution depth of the
project, and the timing and terms thereof; the impact of actions we
have taken or may take to reduce spending on the American
Centrifuge project, including the potential loss of key suppliers
and employees, and impacts to cost and schedule; the impact of
delays in the American Centrifuge project and uncertainty regarding
our ability to remobilize the project; changes in U.S. government
priorities and the availability of government funding, including
loan guarantees; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in our
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our
annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q,
which are available on our website at www.usec.com. We do not
undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect
events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this
annual report on Form 10-K except as required by law.