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The American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility at the Piketon, Ohio, site is located in a portion of an existing process building that is ultimately expected to house the American Centrifuge Plant.
In August 2007, USEC began the Lead Cascade test program at the facility, an integrated testing phase of the American Centrifuge technology involving multiple machines in a cascade configuration.
In a centrifuge enrichment facility, a cascade is a group of centrifuge machines connected in a series and parallel arrangement to achieve an intended isotope separation capability. A commercial uranium enrichment facility that uses gas centrifuge technology is made up of multiple cascades.
The number and arrangement of centrifuge machines in a cascade can vary. The cascades tested during the Lead Cascade test program consist of fewer machines than would ultimately be in a commercial cascade. Initiating the Lead Cascade test program marked another important step in the deployment of the American Centrifuge Plant.
USEC has achieved a number of key objectives through the Lead Cascade test program, including:
USEC has been conducting a Lead Cascade integrated testing program at the Piketon, Ohio, site since August 2007. The test program involves the integrated testing of multiple prototype machines in a cascade configuration and has demonstrated the ability to generate product assays in a range usable by nuclear power plants. The centrifuges involved in the Lead Cascade integrated test program have operated for more than 295,000 total machine hours, providing data on equipment reliability and identifying opportunities to further optimize the machine and cascade design.
The license issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the demonstration facility specifies that the machines be operated in a closed-loop configuration where the uranium gas is enriched, depleted and recombined in a repetitive cycle. The demonstration facility license permits test samples of enriched uranium to be withdrawn through a mass spectrometer. The ability to separate uranium isotopes is tested by analyzing these samples.
These prototype machines confirmed design and performance targets while verifying the predictions of our analytical models. USEC has tested the centrifuge machines in a wide range of operating conditions unlikely to be seen in normal plant operations. Lead Cascade operations also gives USEC’s employees experience in operating a cascade of machines in a variety of conditions, which allows the Company to refine operating and maintenance procedures.
The Lead Cascade test program initially involved prototype machines. Improved AC100 components and design have been incrementally introduced into the Lead Cascade operations. USEC is now in the process of deploying a cascade of AC100 series machines.
The initial design for the AC100 machine reflects improvements learned during individual machine testing and integrated cascade testing of the prototype machine.
During 2008, USEC released the initial AC100 machine design to its strategic suppliers in preparation for installing a test cascade of AC100 series machines in Piketon. During 2009, the strategic suppliers manufactured parts for a test cascade of the initial AC100 series machines, replicating on a commercial basis manufacturing that USEC previously self-performed in building the prototype machines.
Approximately two dozen of these AC100 machines are operating in Piketon and USEC expects to transition to lead cascade testing operations in early 2010. This cascade will be in a commercial plant configuration and operate under commercial plant conditions.
A limited number of additional machines may be added to the cascade to support the machine manufacturing infrastructure. Although this cascade will operate in a closed-loop configuration, the flows of uranium feed and depleted uranium between individual machines in the cascade will be similar to those expected in commercial plant operations.
This cascade is intended to provide additional data on equipment operation and reliability that could identify opportunities to further optimize the centrifuge and cascade design. These initial AC100 machines are expected to be integrated into a commercial cascade or used for spares.
USEC expects that the machines in the initial AC100 Lead Cascade will have a throughput somewhat less than the targeted performance goal of 350 SWU per machine, per year, as USEC continues to tune the AC100 series machine, and the initial machines deployed in the American Centrifuge Plant could also achieve less than the targeted performance goal. However, USEC continues to believe that the Company will be able to assemble and install machines that exceed the targeted performance goal in one or more discrete steps as USEC builds out the American Centrifuge Plant.