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USEC and UT-Battelle LLC begin centrifuge development work, primarily under a DOE-approved Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA).
June: USEC signed a comprehensive agreement with DOE that provides a strong, cooperative foundation for deploying American Centrifuge technology in the United States.
September: The USEC-UT-Battelle CRADA was expanded and extended for an additional five years.
December: USEC announced that it would site its American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility at its Portsmouth plant in Piketon, Ohio.
January: USEC announced that its commercial American Centrifuge Plant would also be sited in Piketon, Ohio.
February: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a license that authorizes USEC to construct and operate its American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility.
June: USEC selected Fluor Enterprises, a subsidiary of Fluor Corporation, to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for USEC’s American Centrifuge Plant.
August: USEC submitted to the NRC its license application for the American Centrifuge Plant. The NRC accepted the application for detailed review that October.
October: USEC announced agreements with the Boeing Company and Honeywell International to support the manufacture of centrifuge machines and components for USEC’s American Centrifuge program.
January: USEC began testing a full-size centrifuge machine at its K-1600 facility in Oak Ridge.
April: The company announced that USEC and its contractors have begun manufacturing centrifuge machine components in Oak Ridge for use in the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility.
April: The NRC issued the final Environmental Impact Statement for the American Centrifuge Plant. This document can be downloaded from the NRC's website.
August: The NRC assumed regulatory oversight of the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility from DOE, allowing USEC to begin operating centrifuge machines with uranium hexafluoride in the Demonstration Facility, as authorized under a license issued by the NRC to the Company in 2004.
September: The NRC issued the final Safety Evaluation Report for the American Centrifuge Plant. This document can be downloaded from the NRC's website. The SER found that the commercial plant would create no significant adverse safety impacts during its construction or operation. It also evaluated the facility’s administrative and management programs to ensure the safe design and operation of the plant.
October: USEC announced that its program to optimize the performance of individual centrifuge machines destined for use in its American Centrifuge Plant had demonstrated performance levels of about 350 SWU (separative work units) per machine per year. This is above the Company's original target level of around 320 SWU per machine per year.
December: USEC signed agreements with DOE for the long-term use of facilities and for the gas centrifuge technology license for the American Centrifuge Plant. A copy of the lease agreement can be downloaded from DOE's website.
April: The NRC issued a construction and operating license for the American Centrifuge Plant. The license, which is good for 30 years, includes authorization to enrich uranium up to an assay level of 10 percent U235.
May: USEC began construction on the American Centrifuge Plant.
June: USEC selected Babcock & Wilcox (formerly BWX Technologies, Inc.) to perform manufacturing work in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for USEC’s American Centrifuge Program. B&W will manufacture components for centrifuge machines to be used in USEC’s American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. Previously this work was expected to be done by The Boeing Company.
August: USEC began the Lead Cascade testing program at the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility to test centrifuge machines in a closed-loop cascade configuration under various operating conditions.
USEC also entered into a three-way manufacturing supply agreement with Hexcel Corporation and with Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for carbon fiber for rotor tubes to be used in the American Centrifuge Plant. Hexcel will produce carbon fiber at its facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah, and deliver it to ATK. This fiber will be used by ATK to manufacture composite rotor tubes at its facilities in Rocket Center, West Virginia.
Later in the month, USEC awarded a contract to Major Tool & Machine Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana, to manufacture steel casings for centrifuge machines that will be used in the American Centrifuge Plant.
September: USEC raised net proceeds of approximately $775 million through the concurrent issuance of 23 million shares of common stock and $575 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible notes. These proceeds, along with an existing $400 million bank credit facility and anticipated cash flow from operations, position USEC to meet its commitment to have financing secured for a 1 million SWU centrifuge plant.
Separately, USEC and UT-Battelle signed an extension to the USEC-funded CRADA that will continue USEC’s use of ORNL employees and resources for developing USEC’s centrifuge technology through 2012.
November: USEC announced that the Lead Cascade test program of the American Centrifuge technology is producing results that achieve USEC’s objectives. Data gathered from groups of Lead Cascade prototype machines operating together in a closed-loop cascade configuration were consistent with the predictions of USEC’s analytical models regarding cascade and machine performance, and the product assays generated. The integrated testing program also demonstrated results that USEC believes achieve the October 2007 milestone under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy of having the Lead Cascade operational and generating product assay in a range useable by commercial nuclear power plants.
February: USEC announced that total program costs for deploying the American Centrifuge technology will rise to around $3.5 billion due to significant price pressure on labor, commodities and construction materials.
March: USEC purchased the former Boeing site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and renamed it the American Centrifuge Technology and Manufacturing Center. The site features 440,000 square feet of buildings, including a 200,000 square-foot building with a high bay structure specifically built in the 1980s by Boeing for manufacturing, balancing and testing centrifuge machines. Since 2007, USEC has made significant building improvements such as upgrading electrical systems and installing foundations for new production machining equipment, robotics, computer control and testing systems to support the manufacturing ramp-up in centrifuge parts production.
On March 31, USEC finalized the initial design for the AC100 machine and released 75 percent of the drawings to USEC’s strategic suppliers to begin manufacturing components. Additional component validation testing will be completed and the remaining drawings released to the strategic suppliers by June 30. The AC100 machine is designed to produce 350 SWU per year. The strategic suppliers will now begin manufacturing parts for the 40 to 50 AC100 machines that will be installed in the next operating cascade in Piketon, Ohio.
May: USEC awarded a $92 million contract to Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. of Huntsville, Ala., to manufacture 540 gas centrifuge service modules for USEC’s American Centrifuge uranium enrichment program.
June: The U.S. Department of Energy invited nuclear energy projects to apply for its loan guarantee program. The omnibus fiscal year 2008 appropriations act authorized DOE to issue $38.5 billion worth of loan guarantees through the end of fiscal year 2009, with $2 billion for advanced “front-end” nuclear fuel cycle facilities such as the American Centrifuge Plant.
July: USEC submitted part I of its application to the U.S. Department of Energy for $2 billion from the loan guarantee program. In supporting its application, USEC noted the project represents the early commercial use of a new or significantly improved technology, and it will significantly reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
USEC also named Russ Starkey as vice president, American Centrifuge. Starkey is responsible for the deployment and commercial operations of the American Centrifuge Plant, including the manufacturing of centrifuge machines by USEC’s strategic suppliers.
August: USEC Inc. completed its review of the cost and schedule for the American Centrifuge Plant and affirmed its previously disclosed estimate of completing the project at $3.5 billion, which includes amounts spent to date but excludes financing costs and financial assurance.
USEC also released the initial machine design drawings for the AC100 centrifuge, allowing strategic suppliers to begin building components for the first of 40 to 50 AC100 centrifuges, which will be installed in the AC100 Lead Cascade.
USEC submitted part II of its application to DOE for $2 billion from the loan guarantee program.
September: USEC also awarded an approximately $1 billion engineering, procurement, construction and construction management services contract to Fluor Corporation to complete construction of the American Centrifuge Plant.
January: USEC and the U.S. Department of Energy signed an amendment to the 2002 DOE-USEC agreement that revises the final milestones under that 2002 agreement regarding completion of USEC's American Centrifuge Plant.
February: USEC announced it would moderate the growth in spending of the American Centrifuge Plant until more certainty was reached over a loan guarantee decision.
March: USEC announced that it had commitments valued at $3.3 billion from 10 customers to buy more than half of the initial, planned output of the American Centrifuge Plant.
USEC completed a second design release for the AC100 series centrifuge machine, the AC100 Mod 1.
July: USEC announced it was initiating steps to demobilize the American Centrifuge project until greater certainty regarding financing to finish the project could be obtained. The Company is currently in the process of formulating its demobilization plan and it will continue to evolve. All plant construction work is expected to be suspended or significantly curtailed until further funding is secured and some manufacturing is also expected to end. Development work in Oak Ridge related to value engineering is expected to continue and the lead cascade test program in Piketon is expected to continue.