AREVA and USEC Inc. have signed an agreement to end their seven year litigation concerning French enrichment services in the United States ("Trade case"), as well as USEC's dumping allegations, which AREVA had always denied.
– By Stephen Heiser –
The agreement will see AREVA reclaim a sizeable portion of the provisional customs duties it paid in the United States as part of the claim, and all ongoing administrative and legal procedures on the matter shall be dropped.
This ends all procedures taken since 2001 as part of the anti-dumping order introduced by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2002, aimed at French imports of slightly enriched uranium. The order shall remain in force until its next reappraisal by U.S. authorities in 2012. In addition, USEC will supply AREVA with enrichment services in 2009 and 2010.
François-Xavier Rouxel, Executive Vice President of AREVA's Enrichment business unit, called the agreement, "Excellent for both companies and for our U.S. customers".
AREVA is a major player in the provision of enrichment services for U.S. utilities. The group has filed a license application to build an enrichment facility in Idaho, based on the new Georges Besse II plant being finalized on the Tricastin site in France. The Idaho project represents an investment of more than $2 billion for AREVA, and will enable the group to have a plant closer to its U.S. customers as of 2014.