USEC need a federal loan guarantee
A company which wants to build a uranium-enrichment plant might abandon its plans. It is because the company has not received a federal loan guarantee. It located in southern Ohio. Yesterday, USEC, based in Bethesda, Md., said during the next month, it will reduce its spending on the American Centrifuge Project in Piketon by 30 percent. If the company doesn’t receive a loan guarantee within a month, it also will send out notices to its 450 employees in Ohio, Maryland and Tennessee that layoffs are possible. The company employs about 264 people in Ohio.
USEC hopes to receive a $2 billion conditional loan guarantee commitment from the Department of Energy and it is continuing its investment in the Piketon plant, the Company officials said. Three years ago, the company applied for the loan guarantee. The company must see a loan guarantee in the next month or risk the end of the project, USEC President and CEO John Welch said in a call with investors. John Welch added he believes the project is ready for commercial deployment.
Welch said 800 people now work on the project counting contractors. if the project becomes a reality, it would bring some 4,000 jobs to Ohio, USEC officials said.