Platts - Thursday, July 31, 2003 
http://www.platts.com

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--30Jul2003

USEC accelerating centrifuge development schedule

United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) is
accelerating its centrifuge development schedule and now
plans to submit an application to NRC for a license to
build a commercial plant in August 2004, seven months
ahead of its previous schedule. USEC Inc. said in a
release July 30 that its centrifuge development program
at Oak Ridge, Tenn. is ahead of schedule and that work
has given the company confidence it can file an
application earlier with the NRC. In the release, USEC
also said that its net income for the first six months
of 2003 was $6.4-million compared with net income of
$11.4-million over the same period in 2002. Revenue over
the first six months of 2003 was $608.6-million, $43-
million higher than last year over the same period,
primarily as a result of increased uranium sales.

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London (Nuclear News Flashes)--30Jul2003

BE chairman issues warning to shareholders

In a statement at British Energy's (BE) annual general
meeting July 30, Chairman Adrian Montague said
restructuring is going to be painful for the company's
major creditors because of the substantial debt
writedown they will suffer and "painful for you, our
shareholders, because when we issue new shares to the
creditors on completion of the restructuring, they will
own the overwhelming majority of the shares in the
company." As a result, he said, "the return to you, if
any, will represent a very significant dilution of your
existing interests." Montague said BE hoped to achieve
formal agreement to the restructuring proposals with its
major creditors by Sept. 30. If that does not happen, of
if the restructuring cannot proceed for any other
reason, "the company is likely to have to seek the
protection of administration," a form of protected
bankruptcy, he said.

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--29July2003

MIT report: Focus on conventional nuclear reactors

The U.S. should focus for the next 10 years on building
conventional nuclear reactors that use a "once-through"
fuel cycle, said the authors of a study released July 29
on the future of nuclear power. The report was issued by
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Eight
of the authors are MIT professors; one is from Harvard
University. The MIT report recommended that the federal
government and industry hold off in the near-term on
developing closed-fuel cycle technologies involving
spent fuel reprocessing and advanced reactor
technologies. The study said the federal government
ought to offer a production tax credit of up to $200 per
installed kilowatt of the construction costs for up to
the first 10 units built. The study's authors also
favored the government sharing the costs with industry
for work associated with "banking" a site for future
construction, NRC certification of a new plant design,
and the application process for a combined construction-
operating license. The report is at
http://web.mit.edu/nuclearpower.

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--29July2003

Garrish named new DOE waste program deputy

Ted Garrish has been named the new deputy secretary of
DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's
Office of Strategy & Program Development. Margaret Chu,
the director of the waste management office, said
Garrish's appointment was effective July 28. Ron Milner,
who had been serving as acting deputy director, will
resume his role as the chief operating officer of the
waste office, Chu said.

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