|
USEC and DOE Modify American Centrifuge Milestones
Agreement
-Does Not Change Current American Centrifuge
Deployment Schedule-
BETHESDA, Md. - USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) and the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) have agreed on a modification to their 2002
agreement that includes milestones related to the deployment of the American Centrifuge uranium enrichment technology. In
agreeing to these modifications, DOE recognized the substantial progress that
USEC has made to commercially deploy the American Centrifuge, as well as the
promise of this U.S. technology and the importance of its deployment.
USEC has already satisfied 11
milestones under the agreement. The four remaining milestones relate to the
financing and operation of the American Centrifuge Plant and have been modified
to provide additional flexibility as USEC makes progress toward obtaining
financing for the American Centrifuge Plant under the DOE Loan Guarantee
Program.
This modification to the 2002
agreement extends by one year to November 2011 the milestone for USEC to
"secure firm financing commitments for the construction of the American
Centrifuge Plant with an annual capacity of approximately 3.5 million SWU per
year." The modification also updates the other three remaining
milestones relating to commercial operation of the plant as follows: begin commercial operations - May
2014; annual capacity at 1 million SWU - August 2015; and annual capacity at
approximately 3.5 million SWU - September 2017. USEC's current schedule for
the American Centrifuge project anticipates that it will need approximately
24 months to begin initial commercial operations upon receiving financing to
complete the plant. USEC also estimates that it will require about 36 months to complete the plant after initial commercial operations
begin. The modification to the 2002 Agreement milestones does not change
USEC's current deployment schedule.
"This agreement updates our
milestones with DOE, reaffirms DOE's support for deploying the technology,
and provides added flexibility in meeting the milestone dates as we get ready
to ramp up the project once financing is arranged," said Philip G.
Sewell, senior vice president of American Centrifuge and Russian HEU.
"The new financing and operating milestone dates do not mean that these
are our target dates, or that we have revised our current schedule. Rather,
these are simply outside dates that we need to achieve under the 2002
agreement."
USEC Inc., a global energy
company, is a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial
nuclear power plants.
###
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 - that is, statements related to future
events. In this context, forward-looking statements may address our expected
future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as
"expects," "anticipates," "intends,"
"plans," "believes," "will" and other words of
similar meaning. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters
that are, to different degrees, uncertain. 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 related to the deployment of the American Centrifuge
technology, including risks related to performance, cost, schedule and
financing; our success in obtaining a loan guarantee for the American
Centrifuge Plant, including our ability to address the technical and
financial concerns raised by DOE; our ability to reach agreement with DOE on
acceptable terms of a conditional commitment, including credit subsidy cost,
and our ability to meet any required conditions to funding; our ability to
raise capital beyond the $2 billion of DOE loan guarantee funding for which
we have applied, including our success in obtaining Japanese export credit
agency financing; the impact of the demobilization of the American Centrifuge
project and uncertainty regarding our ability to remobilize the project and
the potential for termination of the project; our ability to meet the
November 2011 financing milestone and other milestones under the June 2002
DOE-USEC Agreement; restrictions
in our revolving credit facility that may impact our operating and financial
flexibility and spending on the American Centrifuge project; risks related to
the completion of the remaining two phases of the three-phased strategic
investment by Toshiba Corporation ("Toshiba") and Babcock & Wilcox
Investment Company ("B&W"), including our ability to satisfy
the significant closing conditions in the securities purchase agreement
governing the transactions and the impact of a failure to consummate the
transactions on our business and prospects; changes
in U.S. government priorities and the availability of government funding,
including loan guarantees; the competitive environment for our products and
services; changes in the nuclear energy industry; 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, that are available on our website at www.usec.com. We do not
undertake to update our forward-looking statements except as required by law.
Contacts:
Media
- Paul Jacobson (301) 564-3399
Investors - Steve Wingfield (301) 564-3354
|