BETHESDA, Md. - USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) announced today that it has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to begin designing a new gas centrifuge based on the uranium enrichment technology developed by DOE in the 1980s.

USEC began its review of U.S. centrifuge last year as a potential next enrichment technology. This work will enable the company to determine the feasibility of deploying a centrifuge plant in the United States, while continuing to review other technology options.

The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) provides that employees from USEC and DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operated by UT-Battelle, LLC, will partner for at least one year to begin development of a new centrifuge design. USEC’s design will use all the advantages of DOE’s design while incorporating key technological advancements and cost reductions. The parties will conduct their research at DOE’s East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, where centrifuge test facilities already exist.

Over the next year, USEC and UT-Battelle will perform cooperative research in three key areas:

• Design of key centrifuge components,
• Refurbishment and restart of facilities to manufacture and test centrifuge components and
• Planning for potential deployment and operation of a centrifuge enrichment plant.

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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