Another step taken toward uranium enrichment plant in Ohio

USEC Inc. said Thursday it has finalized the initial design for the machines that will be used at a $3.5 billion uranium enrichment plant it is building in southern Ohio.

The company, based in Bethesda, Md., said its Lead Cascade testing program is demonstrating reliable and consistent operations. The program is an intermediate stage between demonstration and commercial production.

Although the company has not yet lined up financing for the plant, officials said they expect it to begin operating in late 2009 or early 2010 and to have 11,500 centrifuge machines, each about 40 feet tall, running by late 2012.

The use of centrifugal force to enrich uranium is considered much more efficient than the 1950s-developed gaseous diffusion method. Enriched uranium from the American Centrifuge Plant would be used in generating electricity at nuclear power plants.

Piketon is about 65 miles south of Columbus.