PIKETON, Ohio - The United States Enrichment Corporation’s Piketon plant has signed a $700,000 contract with the U.S. Department of Energy’s New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) in Argonne, Ill., to furnish NBL with Uranium Standards. These standards will be certified and sold to the national and international community as Certified Reference Materials, or for international safeguards purposes, used in Brazil and Argentina.

Randy Blevins, a senior chemist at USEC’s Piketon plant and a resident of Wheelersburg, worked closely with New Brunswick personnel on the scope of the contract. Blevins’ work with NBL personnel has also included writing and reviewing ASTM International Laboratory Test Methods for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle.

New Brunswick Laboratory is operated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is the U.S. certifying authority for nuclear reference materials. Reference materials are very high quality materials that are produced and certified for certain properties, such as the amount of uranium, to calibrate the methods and instruments used in nuclear material safeguards measurements (much like a one-pound weight being certified to weigh one pound). Facilities that use radioactive materials periodically monitor the quality/quantity of their inventory using the certified materials. High quality nuclear material safeguards measurements are important to national security by providing confidence that nuclear material, in a facility’s inventory or in the process of being used/shipped, has not been diverted, lost, stolen, or otherwise obtained by an entity that is an unacceptable risk for proliferation or terrorism. This work provides base materials for programs at NBL supported by DOE's Office of Security and DOE/NNSA's Office of International Safeguards.

USEC’s Piketon laboratory plays a vital role in this blend process as it will ensure the uranium standards are blended to contract specifications. A portion of this material will be converted to an oxide used as the nation’s primary uranium standard. Analysis is performed at the Piketon laboratory prior to shipment, and the contract also includes transfer of UF6 standard material to containers suitable for an international safeguards project with laboratories in Brazil and Argentina. Other services will include container fabrication and storage of some standard materials.

“We believe that USEC has the unique combination of facilities and employee experience to provide New Brunswick Laboratory with the highest quality Certified Reference Standards,” said General Manager Pat Musser. “We are proud to have received this contract and look forward to working with New Brunswick Laboratory.”

The United States Enrichment Corporation is a subsidiary of USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU), a global energy company and the world’s leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

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