WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that a five-year, $121 million Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) was signed with USEC Inc., that will allow the department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and USEC Inc. to develop and deploy a highly efficient gas centrifuge uranium technology that could greatly reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources.

"We are pleased that we continue to identify opportunities to improve the technology and use of nuclear power," Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said. "As outlined in the President's National Energy Plan, this administration supports the expansion and research of nuclear power, ensuring that it remains a significant contributor to our nation's energy needs and a clean, reliable, and economic energy source for consumers."

Over the next few years, ORNL will receive $28.5 million from USEC Inc. for specific design, testing and analysis work to improve DOE's centrifuge technologies for the production of enriched uranium for nuclear power purposes. Technical personnel from ORNL, operated for DOE by UT-Batelle, and USEC will design and test equipment that will be deployed in USEC's "lead cascade" uranium enrichment test facility. Operation of this full-scale centrifuge test facility will provide the cost, schedule and performance data necessary to plan the future construction of a $1 billion to $1.5 billion commercial centrifuge uranium enrichment plant. The gas centrifuge process produces a uranium stream concentrated in uranium-235, a radioisotope suitable for making fuel for nuclear power plants.

The CRADA and the research governed by it extends through 2007 and will be funded entirely by USEC Inc. USEC Inc. is a supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial power plants.

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