Pearce Congratulates International Isotopes on Obtaining NRC License

Washington, DC (October 3, 2012) - Today, Congressman Steven Pearce released the following statement on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to award a license to International Isotopes Incorporated for construction and operation of the first ever “green” depleted uranium de-conversion and fluorine extraction processing facility near Hobbs, New Mexico.

“I congratulate International Isotopes for their work in obtaining an NRC license to build their Hobbs facility.  When completed, this $125 million state-of-the art industrial facility will create 300 construction jobs and 130-150 permanent technical, engineering, and trade jobs in Lea County.  It also represents an important step forward in bolstering U.S. national capacity for preparing depleted uranium for long term disposal and will also produce important fluorine compounds used in many useful commercial products.”

The INIS plant is the first commercial facility of its kind in the U.S.  It will take the byproducts of uranium enrichment, make it safe for long term disposal and recycle valuable chemicals used for making, among other things, solar panels and computer chips.

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