USEC Gets Regulatory Approval for Nuclear Fuel Plant, Projects Late 2009 Start Date

USEC Inc., which supplies fuel for commercial nuclear power plants, received a 30-year license Friday from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a $2.3 billion uranium enrichment plant.

USEC Inc., based in Bethesda, Md., is developing its American Centrifuge Plant at an old atomic weapons plant in Piketon, Ohio, to make fuel for nuclear reactors.

The plant’s approval comes as regulators expect to start receiving about applications for new nuclear power plants over the next three years with at least 30 new reactors. Most of those plants are expected to be built in the Southeast.

USEC expects to have the plant, which is expected to employ 400 people, running by late 2009. The company said in February that the plant would cost $600 million more than original estimates.

John Welch, USEC’s chief executive, said in a prepared statement that “a stable, domestic source of enriched uranium is vital” for the development of new nuclear plants around the country.

Shares of USEC rose 66 cents, or 3.5 percent, to close at $19.76 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier in the session, shares hit a new 52-week high of $19.77 earlier in the session, eclipsing a previous high of $19.50.

The climb continued after hours, as shares added another $1.64, or 8.3 percent, to $21.40.

Information from: biz.yahoo.com