Usec wins $200 million PPL Susquehanna contract
10 January 2007
Usec has signed a long-term contract with PPL Susquehanna to supply uranium enrichment services for the company's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The contract is valued at more than $200 million.
John M A Donelson, Usec vice president of marketing and sales, said the agreement is a "great example of utility support for both the Megatons to Megawatts program and Usec's transition to the next-generation American Centrifuge uranium enrichment plant to be built in Piketon, Ohio."
Usec is in the process of demonstrating and deploying the American Centrifuge, which will replace its existing gaseous diffusion technology. The American Centrifuge Plant will use modular architecture that allows capacity to be added incrementally, thus allowing Usec to meet the growing demand for nuclear fuel.
The Megatons to Megawatts program is the result of the 1993 non-proliferation agreement between the USA and Russia to convert highly enriched uranium (HEU) taken from dismantled Russian nuclear warheads into low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. As US Executive Agent for this program, Usec purchases this fuel for its customers' nuclear power plants.
The 2360 MWe Susquehanna nuclear power plant consists of two boiling water reactors. Unit 1 began commercial operations in 1983 and unit 2 started in 1985. The reactors operate under 40-year operating licences from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. PPL intends to seek renewal of these licences, which if approved, would extend the units' operations through 2042 and 2044, respectively.
Further information
PPL Corpoation
Usec
WNA's Uranium Enrichment information paper
WNA's Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel information paper