Ohio centrifuge project a hot topic at Moniz hearing

• Ohio Sen. Rob Portman expresses support for Piketon uranium enrichment project
• Wyoming Sen. John Barasso claims project is a waste of tax dollars during confirmation hearing
• Energy secretary-nominee Ernest Moniz promises to caerfully study application for loan guarantee

WASHINGTON — Under questioning at his confirmation hearing Tuesday, Energy secretary-nominee Ernest Moniz offered supportive words for the uranium enrichment technology being developed by USEC in Piketon, Ohio.

Moniz was grilled about USEC by two lawmakers — Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who staunchly supports the company's American Centrifuge Project, and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who was highly critical.

Barrasso suggested the Department of Energy's support for USEC is a waste of taxpayer money. And he raised questions about whether Moniz, a one-time adviser to USEC, would have a conflict of interest in handling USEC-related decisions as the DOE's new chief.

"There have been extraordinary steps by the Department of Energy . . . to bail out USEC," Barrasso said.

The Wyoming Republican specifically criticized past moves by the DOE to sell government stocks of uranium to help pay for the cost of cleanup at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon. The federal government built the diffusion plant in the 1950s, along with similar facilities in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Paducah, Ky., to enrich uranium.

USEC also used to be a part of the Energy Department, but Congress privatized it in the mid-1990s. Now a Maryland-based global energy company, USEC is a major supplier of enriched uranium and is working to develop the American Centrifuge Project at the site in Piketon.

Under the cleanup agreement, "the Department of Energy is in the process of giving (away) publicly owned uranium in an effort to prop up USEC," Barrasso said. He said the agreement has resulted in an almost 20% drop in the price of uranium, which has threatened "good paying" mining jobs in Wyoming and other states.

Barrasso also questioned whether Moniz should recuse himself from decisions related to USEC, noting that the MIT physics professor once worked as a consultant to the company. Moniz was a member of USEC's Strategic Advisory Council from 2002 to 2004, a paid position he held shortly after leaving an earlier stint with the Department of Energy in the Clinton White House.

Moniz said he said he would consult "very closely" with legal advisers about any recusal issues, but added: "I have had no connection with the company for a decade basically."

Of the DOE's cleanup efforts at the former gaseous diffusion plants, Moniz promised to be mindful of the impact on the domestic uranium market.

Portman defended the DOE's move to sell uranium to pay for the cost of cleanup at the Piketon site, and he noted it's separate from USEC's efforts to develop the new enrichment technology.

"We should all be for that because it enables us to ensure that we have the funding for decontamination and waste disposal, which will save the taxpayers money over time," Portman said. "That's not related to the centrifuge technology."

Under questioning by Portman, Moniz agreed to continue funding the cleanup program under the current DOE agreement. And he said the U.S. needed to have a domestic source of enriched uranium.

"It's a requirement that we have an American-origin technology for enriched uranium," Moniz said in response to questions from Portman.

USEC is currently working in collaboration with DOE on a research, development and demonstration project to test its centrifuge technology. That phase is scheduled for completion at the end of this year, when USEC plans to renew its bid for a $2 billion federal loan guarantee.

DOE officials put that application on hold in 2011, after glitches at the Piketon site raised concerns inside the energy agency about the project.

Portman asked Moniz if he would "personally focus on this application, to ensure that this loan guarantee program gets the attention that it deserves?"

"Yes sir, I will," Moniz answered, agreeing that the next few months will be "very important to demonstrate" the viability of the project.