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USEC is deploying the American Centrifuge, a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology, to replace the gaseous diffusion process used at its Paducah plant.
USEC’s American Centrifuge technology has its foundations in U.S. centrifuge technology, a proven, workable technology developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) over a 20-year period through 1985. USEC licenses this technology from DOE.
USEC has significantly updated and improved the original DOE centrifuge technology through the use of high-performance materials, advanced computer-aided design, analytic modeling tools, improved equipment design and rotor balancing, highly accurate digital controls and computer-aided manufacturing processes to achieve specified performance parameters while meeting exacting tolerances.
Demonstration and manufacturing activities are underway at several facilities located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. USEC initiated testing of centrifuge components in 2003 and began testing individual prototype machines in highly specialized test equipment in January 2005.
In 2006, the USEC project team at Oak Ridge tested a centrifuge machine that demonstrated performance of about 350 separative work units (SWU) per machine per year. This performance level has been reaffirmed in subsequent testing.
In 2007, USEC's project team froze the design of this prototype centrifuge machine, which is now operating in the Lead Cascade.
In March 2008, USEC finalized the initial design for the AC100 machine to be used in the commercial plant and released 75 percent of the drawings to its strategic suppliers to begin manufacturing components. Additional component validation testing will be completed and the remaining drawings released to the strategic suppliers by the end of June. The AC100 is designed to produce 350 SWU per year.
In Piketon, Ohio, USEC is operating the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility for the purposes of demonstrating and evaluating the Company’s enhancements to U.S. centrifuge technology and centrifuge performance in a cascade configuration.
The Lead Cascade test program began operating in the Demonstration Facility in August 2007 using the prototype centrifuge machines. Tests have demonstrated the capability of the American Centrifuge technology to produce low enriched uranium at commercial product assay levels.
The NRC issued the Construction and Operating License for the American Centrifuge Plant in April 2007. The license, which is valid for 30 years, includes authorization to enrich uranium up to an assay level of 10 percent U235.
USEC officially began construction on the American Centrifuge Plant in May 2007. USEC is working toward beginning commercial plant operations in late 2009 and having approximately 11,500 machines deployed in 2012, which would provide about 3.8 million SWU of production based on current estimates of machine output and plant availability. As part of USEC's review of the American Centrifuge Plant costs, USEC is also looking at the plant's deployment schedule.
The successful construction and operation of the American Centrifuge Plant is dependent upon a number of factors, including the success and timing of the demonstration and deployment of the American Centrifuge technology, the costs to develop that technology and the Company’s success in obtaining financing for the plant.