Portman, congressional delegation urge DOE to identify plans to preserve nuclear enrichment project at Piketon

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) led an Ohio Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz this week, urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to identify viable near-term and long-term options to preserve the United States’ domestic enrichment supply, which fulfils multiple national security and energy security needs including powering the nuclear Navy and maintaining our nuclear deterrent.

The Ohio Congressional Delegation writes, “We remain concerned that the United States is at risk of losing its domestic enrichment capability, which since World War II, has been used to meet our critical natural security, energy security and nonproliferation needs.”

They add, “The Administration's continued efforts to develop this technology in Ohio have been supported by the Ohio Congressional Delegation.

"But with the Department of Energy's two year Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) program coming to end on January 15, 2014, we urge your agency to move forward and provide a pathway for the successful deployment of U.S. advanced centrifuge technology that can meet our national security requirements and our nation’s important nuclear nonproliferation agenda.”

At an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing in April 2013 regarding the nomination of Moniz to be the Secretary of Energy, Portman highlighted the importance of the American Centrifuge Project (ACP) in Piketon, Ohio, which is the cornerstone to fulfilling our national security requirements for a domestic source of enriched uranium.

Moniz agreed with Portman that the United States must have the technology for a fully domestic source of enriched uranium to support our nuclear weapons program and the Navy nuclear reactors program, saying, “it’s a requirement that we have American origin technology for enrichment.”

Last year, when Portman was on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and served as a conferee on the Department of Defense (DoD) Authorization for 2013, he ensured that funding for uranium enrichment research and development was authorized in the final version of the bill that passed both chambers of Congress and was signed into law.

Portman has been a consistent advocate for ACP and the need to develop advanced U.S. enrichment technology.

Prior to serving as a conferee on the bill, Portman worked with his SASC colleagues to ensure the Senate version of the bill, which passed out of the Armed Services Committee in May and off the Senate floor earlier this month, contained $150 million for ACP. Portman met with then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu on multiple occasions to press the need for DOE to move forward with a loan guarantee for ACP.

Portman and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) first introduced legislation to authorize the ACP RD&D program in December of 2011.

In April 2012, Portman and Brown were successful in including $150 million in appropriations for the RD&D program in the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water appropriations bill, $100 million of which was ultimately included in Congress’ 6-month Continuing Resolution.

The full text of the letter is below.

December 3, 2013
The Honorable Ernest Moniz
Secretary of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585

Dear Mr. Secretary;

We remain concerned that the United States is at risk of losing its domestic enrichment capability, which since World War II, has been used to meet our critical natural security, energy security and nonproliferation needs. We know you share these concerns and therefore, we support the Department of Energy’s (DOE) efforts in identifying viable near-term and long-term options that will preserve our domestic enrichment supply using U.S. origin technology.

We agree with the Administration that enriched uranium fulfills multiple national security and energy security needs including powering the nuclear Navy and maintaining our nuclear deterrent. One of the most significant national security needs met by enriched uranium produced with U.S. technology is its role in fueling reactors that produce tritium. Because of long standing statutory and treaty obligations, these defense needs can only be met with enriched uranium produced by and procured from U.S. sources using domestic enrichment technology.

The Administration's continued efforts to develop this technology in Ohio have been supported by the Ohio Congressional Delegation. But with the Department of Energy's two year Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) program coming to end on January 15, 2014, we urge your agency to move forward and provide a pathway for the successful deployment of U.S. advanced centrifuge technology that can meet our national security requirements and our nation’s important nuclear nonproliferation agenda.

Thank you for continuing to work with the Ohio delegation on this matter. We are prepared to work with you to develop and implement a long-term plan to ensure that our nation has a domestic enrichment capability to meet these vital national interests.