Plants comply with all NRC safety, public health, environmental and security regulations
By April Murelio
USEC Inc. has announced that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recertified USEC's operations at the gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants in Paducah, Ky., and Piketon, Ohio, for five years.
The renewed certificates of compliance represent the determination that USEC's operations at the plants comply with all NRC safety, public health, environmental and security regulations. The plants are required to be recertified by the NRC every five years, with the current certificates set to expire December 31, 2008. In consultation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the NRC is also required to submit a report on the operation of the plants to Congress.
Based on its review of the certificate renewal applications, the NRC staff has concluded that "in combination with the existing certificate conditions, USEC provides reasonable assurance of adequate safety, safeguards and security and compliance with NRC requirements," according to the NRC notice published in the Federal Register of the renewal of the certificates of compliance.
USEC's enrichment operations at the Paducah plant set production records in 2007. Enrichment is the process by which the concentration of the fissionable uranium isotope, U-235, is increased in order to make fuel for nuclear power plants.
In Piketon, USEC provides contract services to DOE to help prepare the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant for decontamination and decommissioning.