Energy OKs 280M dollars for nuclear project in Ohio
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Energy OKs $280M for nuclear project in
Ohio
WASHINGTON (USA TODAY) - The U.S. Department of Energy said
Wednesday morning it would put $280 million into a struggling
uranium centrifuge project in southern Ohio.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the deal was intended to
"strengthen U.S. national security" while "ensuring strong
protections for the American taxpayers."
Shares in centrifuge-maker USEC, the company spun off of the
Energy Department in 1998, shot up 28% at the market's opening,
giving a much needed boost to a company in danger of delisting by
the New York Stock Exchange. Its stock was trading back above
$1.
When the 120-centrifuge "test cascade" is completed next year,
the project "will fully demonstrate that the American Centrifuge
technology is ready for commercial deployment," USEC President John
Welch said in a statement. The company has plans to construct
33,000 centrifuges.
USEC said the research-and-development phase would create 1,000
jobs in southern Ohio, a battleground state in the presidential
election, where President Obama said he supported the project in
2008. But the project faltered after the Energy Department put a $2
billion loan guarantee on hold, and some centrifuges were damaged
by a power outage a year ago.
The taxpayer subsidy comes with strings attached. USEC will
invest $70 million, and will relinquish management of the contract
to a a subsidiary, American Centrifuge Demonstration LLC, whose
board will include contractors Toshiba Corp. and Babcock &
Wilcox. And DOE will have an ownership stake in the centrifuges,
which will be built using technology owned by the government and
previously licensed to USEC.
The project is one of the more contentious items in the defense
authorization bill being debated in Congress. Supporters, including
most members of the Ohio delegation, say it's critical to have a
domestic source of uranium enrichment. Critics say the Department
of Energy is playing favorites in the marketplace.
The government's purchase of centrifuges damaged in last year's
failure "is a complete and total waste of taxpayer dollars," said
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. On Tuesday, he called for the Government
Accountability Office to investigate what he called "the continued
bailouts of a clearly failing company."