PIKETON, Ohio - The United States Enrichment Corporation’s Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Plant this week concluded a historic program that diluted 14 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpiled by the U.S. Government for defense purposes. The project began on December 15, 1994, with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by U.S. Department of Energy and USEC.

The program consisted of two parts. The first part involved downblending, or diluting, 14 metric tons of HEU at the Portsmouth plant. The downblending was completed in July 1998. The second part consisted of cleaning the cylinders that contained HEU. On March 12, 2000, the last cylinder containing a residual amount of HEU was cleaned at the plant.

"Completion of this program is a significant milestone for USEC as well as for the U.S. Government," said Morris Brown, Portsmouth Plant General Manager. "This was one of the first U.S. initiatives in the ‘Swords to Plowshares’ program after the end of the Cold War," said Brown. The project was also included as one of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection sites agreed to by an international treaty signed by the U.S. Government.

The United States Enrichment Corporation is a subsidiary of USEC Inc., the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. A global energy company, USEC has its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and operates production plants in Kentucky and Ohio.

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