Whitfield Calls for Action on Legislation to Realize Taxpayer Value from Nation's Uranium Stockpile | News | Congressman Ed Whitfield

News | Congressman Ed Whitfield | United States Representative

Whitfield Calls for Action on Legislation to Realize Taxpayer Value from Nation's Uranium Stockpile June 11, 2008 WASHINGTON - Continuing his efforts to keep employees at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant working and bring millions of dollars to the region for environmental clean-up, U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (KY-01) sent a letter to Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee John Dingell (MI-15) urging him to move forward on plans to re-enrich the nation's stockpile of uranium tails.

"Right now our nation sits on a gigantic stockpile of uranium tails worth billions of dollars," Whitfield said. "It is absolutely essential that the government take quick action in re-enriching these tails to obtain the highest value possible for the American taxpayer and the Paducah community which has hosted this plant for the last sixty years."

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on April 3, 2008 to discuss how best to utilize the 700,000 tons of uranium tails contained in cylinders located at the Paducah and Portsmouth, Ohio plant sites. The stockpile of uranium tails was previously regarded as unwanted waste and had been destined for dismantling and disposal. However, the price of uranium skyrocketed in recent years putting the value of these uranium tails at an estimated $7.6 billion to $20 billion.

Whitfield introduced legislation last November which provides a reasonable solution to the disposal of the uranium tails and could keep the Paducah plant open for several years beyond the planned 2012 closure date. His bill, H.R. 4189, directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to contract with USEC, the operator of the Paducah plant, to re-enrich the uranium tails. Whitfield's legislation would help resolve the environmental problem of disposing of these tails, generate revenue to continue environmental cleanup efforts and possibly give additional life to the Paducah plant.

Whitfield is calling on Chairman Dingell to move quickly in scheduling a committee markup of his legislation or in crafting an acceptable bipartisan proposal as the value of the tails is completely sensitive to the price of uranium.

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