U.S. uranium company seeks federal relief
Last year, the U.S. federal government sold off to investors a company it had created to process uranium on the theory that the new firm, Bethesda-based USEC Inc., would thrive in the competitive marketplace. But now USEC, its stock price under assault, is seeking as much as $200 million in relief from the Clinton administration and Congress.
The company-which is a key player in reducing the number of stockpiled nuclear weapons in Russia-is warning that it could lose $200 million to $300 million over the next two years because of a deal that requires the company to buy processed uranium from Russia.
When it was privatized, USEC inherited a deal with Russia that was part of a historic agreement to help rid the world of nuclear weapons. So far, USEC has converted the equivalent of more than 3,000 Russian nuclear warheads into fuel under the program.
Under the Russian agreement, USEC is the federal government's executive agent responsible for carrying out a 1993 accord between the Russian and U.S. governments to convert highly enriched uranium (HEU) from dismantled Soviet nuclear warheads into low-enriched uranium to be used as fuel in nuclear power plants.
During the first years of the agreement, USEC made money under its terms, but since then the market price for low-enriched uranium has fallen. In addition, according to USEC, the price it pays the Russians is "substantially" higher than the cost of processing uranium in its two U.S. plants.
Standard & Poor's downgraded USEC's corporate-credit, senior-unsecured and bank-loan ratings in August from triple-B-plus to triple B with a negative outlook. Last month, USEC reported the third quarter earnings of $16.1 million (16 cents per share), compared with net income (minus a special tax benefit) of $8.6 million (9 cents) the previous year.
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из архива за: 03.12.1999 рубрика: NVO |
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