Uranium Enrichment Newsletter
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February 2002
The Uranium Enrichment Project publishes a monthly online newsletter summarizing developments within the US uranium enrichment establishment. The newsletter is compiled by Mary Byrd Davis, who can be contacted at francenuc@francenuc.org .
I. OAK RIDGE
R. P. Prince and A. Milton Stanley have published an article in the Journal of East Tennessee History that traces the origin of the name K-25. The "K" stood originally for the Kellex Corporation, a subsidiary of the M.W. Kellogg Company created to design the gaseous diffusion plant. The number "25" was a code name for uranium 235 during World War II. The historians think that "K-25" was used for the first time in a Kellex technical report in March 1943, before the site of the first US gaseous diffusion plant had been determined. (Richard D. Smyser, Oak Ridger, 1/16/02)
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is considering extending operation of the incinerator at K-25. During the past few years DOE officials have stated that use of the incinerator would end with the close of the 2003 fiscal year. Helen Belencan, head of DOE’s national low-level waste program, will make a recommendation early this year as to whether to change this date; DOE is likely to make a decision before the end of the year. The incinerator is DOE’s only facility for burning mixed waste (radioactive waste with hazardous chemicals). The State of Tennessee has not yet approved DOE’s burn plan for 2002. (Frank Munger, Knoxville News-Sentinel, 1/2/02)
A new laboratory to analyze blood samples for beryllium disease was unveiled at Oak Ridge January 16. The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which will use the laboratory, is in charge of DOE’s national program to test workers for the illness. People who have been exposed to beryllium need to be tested every few years, whether or not they have been exposed since their last test. The Institute can analyze the blood from 3000 workers a year, but that does not meet the demand, Dr. Donna Cragle, chief of epidemiology at the institute reports. (Frank Munger, Knoxville News-Sentinel, 1/17/02)
II. PADUCAH
Bechtel Jacobs has awarded Weskem a $22 million contract to remove from Paducah and transport to a Nevada disposal site, 29,000 tons of scrap metal. The project is scheduled to begin in June and to last about four years. Nickel ingots are not covered by the contract, since they are valuable and may be recycled. USEC was among the four firms that bid for the work. ( Joe Walker, Paducah Sun, 1/5/02)
DOE will spend twice as much on security at the Paducah plant as it had planned, before September 11, to spend. The budget has been increased from approximately $2.4 million to more than $4.8 million. Most of the additional money will be used for labor. Security changes at the plant include broadening the security perimeter, adding a checkpoint, placing barriers at perimeter roads, and closing a road. (Joe Walker, The Paducah Sun, 1/10/02)
The Kentucky legislature has before it a bill to exempt uranium enriched at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant from the state’s 6% sales tax. The legislation is designed to encourage USEC to move its transfer and shipping operation from the Portsmouth plant to Paducah, a change that USEC is considering making. Ohio does not charge USEC sales tax. (Bill Bartleman, Paducah Sun, 1/11/02)
III. PORTSMOUTH
DOE’s fiscal year 2000 budget included $2 million for study of construction of a disposal cell for low-level waste at the Portsmouth plant. The study is being carried out by Bechtel Jacobs, which should complete it in June. The cell would store only waste generated by the Portsmouth site, Walter Perry of DOE is reported as saying. (Rami Yoakum, Chillicothe Gazette, 1/26/02)
J. E. Dyer, regional administrator for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), has sent J. Morris Brown of USEC, a letter with a Notice of Violation. Dyer states that "the NRC has determined that violations of NRC requirements occurred." "A greater than safe mass deposit in piping associated with shutdown Cell 31-5-8" accumulated, and the dry air buffer in the involved piping was not maintained. The violations were classed as Severity Level III, because criticality control was not met. The NRC considers a base civil penalty of $60,000 for a Severity Level III problem, Dyer stated. However, the problem has been corrected, and the agency has decided not to propose a civil penalty in this case, to encourage prompt correction of violations and to recognize "the absence of previous escalated enforcement action." (Letter from J.E. Dyer to J. Morris Brown, 1/17/02)
The Ohio legislature is considering a bill that would set up a Nuclear Energy Study Committee as a joint legislative committee "to examine the feasibility and desirability of an expanded role for nuclear energy to meet the future energy needs of Ohio and, if the committee determines it necessary and appropriate, to identify specific policies that this state should undertake to remove barriers to or provide incentives for such an expanded role" (HB 414). Twelve consumer and environmental organizations, including Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security (PRESS), announced their opposition to the bill January 29. (HB 414; Press release from Advocates for Consumers and the Environment, 1/29/02)
"Sources" have said that "a power plant may be envisioned" for 340 acres of land at the Portsmouth site that DOE may shortly transfer to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (Sodi) for industrial use. (Jonathan Riskind, Columbus Dispatch, 1/30/02)
DOE has found traces of chemical and radioactive contaminants on 340 acres of land that the department is preparing to transfer to the non-profit Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (Sodi) for a nominal fee. Among them are xylene; heavy metals including mercury; and plutonium and neptunium. Testing has been conducted in two phases. The second phase, the results of which were announced January 29, found lower levels of contamination than did the first phase. In view of the tests, Sodi is not certain whether it wants to receive the land. Sodi intends to look to the Ohio EPA and its own analysis for guidance (Van Rose, Pike County News Watchman, 1/20/02; Jonathan Riskind, Columbus Dispatch, 1/30/02) DOE has retracted the fist version of the report, and only the second version is available at the DOE’s Environmental Information Center (740-289-3317), the Center’s librarian told us.
DOE has announced the availability of the Portsmouth Annual Environmental Report for 2000. Copies can be obtained from DOE’s Environmental Information Center at Piketon (740-289-3317).
The thriller Collateral Damage by H. R. Hertzberg, a Denver attorney, centers in an attempt to sabotage the Portsmouth enrichment plant. Few details about the plant are given. In fact, much of the story takes place in South Africa. The plot is based on the assumption that maintaining a domestic supply of enriched uranium is of tremendous importance to the US administration. The reader may wonder to what extent the current administration would agree with this assumption. The second edition of the book was published by the National Writers Press in Aurora, Colorado in 2001.
IV. US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE)
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham visited DOE’s Fernald site January 31 to announce the results of the agency’s top-to-bottom review of its Environmental Management Program. DOE will dedicate $800 million of its $6.7 billion request for cleanup funds in fiscal year 2003 to an "Expedited Cleanup Account." Money from the "Expedited Account" will go to sites that have reached an agreement with DOE on an expedited cleanup schedule. Details of DOE’s cleanup plans were to be announced February 4. (DOE, News release, 1/31/02)
V. UNITED STATES URANIUM ENRICHMENT CORPORATION (USEC)
The US International Trade Commission ruled January 22 that imports of low-enriched uranium from Europe "have materially injured and/or threaten to materially injure USEC Inc." The Commission will transmit its ruling to the US Department of Commerce February 4. The department will then issue final antidumping and countervailing duty orders. The total duties will be 32.10% for Eurodif and 2.23% for Urenco. Pascal Lamy, European Trade Commissioner, has protested the ruling and warned that the European Union could challenge it at the World Trade Organization. (USEC Press Release, 1/22/02; Europe Information Service, European Report, 1/26/02)
An article in the Washington Post January 28 indicates that USEC is among fourteen Washington area companies audited by Arthur Anderson that will continue to use Anderson’s services. Charles Yulish, USEC spokesperson, told the Post that Anderson is "like the federal government." "They come in and they are tough. You show them your books."
In June 2000 USEC entered into an agreement with Enron whereby USEC’s US customers were given the option of purchasing enrichment services and products from USEC with electricity. Customers would furnish Enron with electricity, and Enron would pay USEC the contracted price for the service or product and sell the electricity. (USEC Press release, 6/27/00)
In its second quarter, ending December 31, 2001, USEC earned $9.5 million or $.12 per share; in the second quarter of its preceding fiscal year, USEC had earned $20.9 million or $.26 per share. Nevertheless, USEC experienced a 38% increase in volume of sales of SWU, in the second quarter of 2002 compared with the corresponding quarter in 2001. Revenue was $560.1 million in the second quarter of 2001, compared to $387.1 million the previous year. (USEC, Press release, 1/23/02)
January 25 Standard & Poor’s (S&P) placed on CreditWatch its ratings of USEC Inc. S&P is concerned about the status of USEC’s negotiations with Russia on implementation of the HEU accord and about the contamination of much of USEC’s stockpile of natural uranium. S&P lists USEC’s corporate credit rating at BB+, below investor grade.(Platt’s Nuclear News Flashes, 1/25/02)
Martin J. Virgilio, Director of NRC’s Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, wrote to J. Morris Brown, USEC’s vice president for operations, January 18, to state the licensing requirements for the importation of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6). A license would necessitate an amendment to USEC’s gaseous diffusion plant certificates that would state an acceptable means of disposing of the waste and provide assurance of the availability of funds for that purpose. DUF6 "would be classified as waste since there is not a clear foreseeable use." The designation could be changed if USEC finds a "useful purpose for the material consistent with NRC requirements." USEC had requested clarification of regulations on the importation to the United States of this material. The company wants to import DUF6 from an Asian customer. (Letter from Martin J. Virgilio to J. Morris Brown, 1/18/02; Platt’s Nuclear News Flashes, 1/29/02)
VI. URENCO
Urenco has formally informed the NRC that it plans "’to apply for and obtain a license to build and operate an enrichment facility in the US.’" In a December letter to William Travers, director of operations at the NRC, Pat Upson, Urenco’s managing director, said that Urenco and its partners would begin site selection in early 2002 and probably file an application for a license in the last half of the year. Urenco has not yet announced the names of the partners; but has stated that the group that put forward the Louisiana Energy Services project in the 1990s will be the basis of the new partnership. Cogéma, however, will apparently be excluded. (Mark Hibbs, NuclearFuel, 12/24/01; Platt’s Nuclear News Flashes, 1/4/02)
VII. RUSSIA
USEC and Techsnabexport, executive agents for implementation of the US-Russian high enriched uranium accord, have failed to agree on a price for blended down Russian uranium in 2002 and beyond. USEC reportedly wants to pay 15 percent less than it did in 2001. The Russians say that they are unable to accept this decrease. Officials of the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry have announced that the negotiations will continue but, as of January 31, did not know when or where this would occur. The contract that determined pricing expired at the end of 2001. (RosBusinessConsulting Database, 1/22/02; Vedomosti, 1/31/02)
VIII. DEPLETED URANIUM
DOE has asked the three finalists in the bidding to convert depleted uranium hexafluoride at the enrichment plants to more stable material to extend their bids through February 28. The department had stated that it would announce the successful bidder January 15. Officials of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) International say that the delay is in large measure the result of disagreement between the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and DOE over how many plants to build. DOE wants two, as Congress specified; OMB wanted none and then switched to one. Reportedly, if only one plant is built, it is likely to be at Paducah, which has approximately two thirds of the depleted material (see UEN, Jan. 2002). (Joe Walker, The Paducah Sun, 1/26/02)