BETHESDA, Md. - USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) announced today that it has completed installation of seismic modifications to upgrade the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. This ensures that all Paducah plant facilities are in compliance with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) seismic requirements.

To complete necessary modifications to the C-331 and C-335 process buildings—two of the four facilities housing Paducah’s enrichment operations—USEC undertook a thorough facility design analysis, identified areas where additional structural support was needed and added or upgraded steel cross bracings at 688 locations. Other facilities were not modified because they already met NRC safety requirements.

"I am extraordinarily proud of the efforts of our workforce on this time-consuming and often difficult project," said Paducah General Manager Howard Pulley. "All of this work was performed safely while the equipment in the process buildings was still in operation."

The project was started in 1995 as part of the Paducah Compliance Plan, which contained a number of initiatives for improving the facility. During the upgrade, workers removed 3,500 pieces of steel and installed 12,500 more pieces, poured more than 600 cubic yards of concrete and used more than 77,000 pounds of welding materials. The $72 million project required more than one million manhours to complete.

USEC Inc., a global energy company, is the world’s leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

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