USEC Begins Process of Siting New AVLIS Uranium Enrichment Facility.BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 1998--USEC Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :USU USU Usually USU Utah State University (Logan, UT) USU Uniformed Services University USU Ural State University (Ekatherinburg, Russia) USU Universidade Santa Úrsula ), a global energy company that is the world leader in enriching uranium fuel for use in electric power plants, announced Monday that it has initiated a site selection process for a new production facility utilizing AVLIS AVLIS Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation , its proprietary next-generation laser-based uranium enrichment process. Sites throughout the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. are being considered to host this first-of-a-kind, high-tech facility. A site is expected to be selected early next year. USEC's Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation AVLIS Is an acronym which stands for atomic vapor laser isotope separation and is a method by which specially tuned lasers are used to separate isotopes of uranium using selective ionization of hyperfine transitions. In the largest technology transfer in U.S. (AVLIS) technology uses lasers to enrich uranium to produce fuel for nuclear reactors in electric power plants. USEC USEC Microsecond USEC United States Enrichment Corporation USEC United States East Coast USEC Unity Security Force (gaming) USEC Universal Services Echo Canceller USEC Umts Security USEC User Based Security Model believes AVLIS will provide a significant competitive advantage as a safe, reliable and cost-effective method for enriching uranium compared to gaseous diffusion and gas centrifuge processes, the two types of technologies currently employed by uranium enrichment providers. The AVLIS facility must be licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent U.S. government commission, created by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 and charged with licensing and regulating civilian use of nuclear energy to protect the public and the environment. and meet stringent environmental, safety, health and operating standards. Following successful completion of AVLIS performance demonstration, design and licensing, construction of the AVLIS facility is expected to begin in 2002 and production is expected to commence in 2005. Candidate sites will be evaluated considering environmental and socio-economic factors, construction and operating costs, and community support. The full deployment of the new AVLIS enrichment facility is expected to cost over $2 billion. A peak construction workforce of 1,900 is expected, and the completed facility is expected to employ about 1,300 workers in technical, manufacturing and administrative fields. USEC Inc. is the world leader in production and sales of uranium fuel enrichment services for commercial nuclear power plants. A global energy company with customers in 14 countries, USEC's operations involve approximately 5,000 people. Headquartered in Bethesda, the company manages production plants in Kentucky and Ohio, and is developing AVLIS in California. |
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