State Representative Cliff Rosenberger (R-Clarksville) today offered sponsor testimony in the House Public Utilities Committee, encouraging committee members to support House Concurrent Resolution 4. HCR 4 urges President Barack Obama to direct the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) to grant a loan to USEC Inc. to ensure the continuation of the uranium enrichment project in Piketon.

“The American Centrifuge Project will help revitalize southern Ohio’s economy and place us at the forefront of the advanced nuclear industry in the United States,” Rosenberger said. “The loan guarantee process has been long, and it is time for the federal government to take action.”

USEC’s application for a loan guarantee from USDOE has been pending for two-and-a-half years. Since 2002, USEC has invested nearly $2 billion of its own money to partially finance the American Centrifuge Project.

USEC is a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. USEC operates the only U.S.-owned uranium enrichment facility in the United States and supplies more than half of the U.S. market and more than a quarter of the world market. The American Centrifuge Project would create an estimated 8,000 direct and indirect American jobs—up to half of which would be based in Ohio.