{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=998f5a55-a095-4b18-afea-45963098333b", "Portman, Ohio Congressional Delegation Urge DOE to Identify Plans to Preserve Nuclear Enrichment Project at Piketon", "2013-12-03", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Rob Portman", "P000449", "www.portman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) led the Ohio Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to identify viable near-term and long-term options to preserve the United States\u2019 domestic enrichment supply, which fulfils multiple national security and energy security needs including powering the nuclear Navy and maintaining our nuclear deterrent.\r\nThe Ohio Congressional Delegation writes, \u201cWe 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 national security, energy security and nonproliferation needs.\u201d\r\nThey add, \u201cThe Administration's continued efforts to develop this technology in Ohio have been supported by the Ohio Congressional Delegation.\u00a0 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\u2019s important nuclear nonproliferation agenda.\u201d\r\nAt 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.\u00a0 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, \u201cit\u2019s a requirement that we have American origin technology for enrichment.\u201d\r\nLast 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.\r\nPortman has been a consistent advocate for ACP and the need to develop advanced U.S. enrichment technology.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\r\nPortman and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) first introduced legislation to authorize the ACP RD&D program in December of 2011.\u00a0 In April 2012, Portman and Brown were successful in including $150 million in appropriations for the RD&D program in the Senate\u2019s Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water appropriations bill, $100 million of which was ultimately included in Congress\u2019 6-month Continuing Resolution.\r\nThe full text of the letter is below and can also be viewed here.\r\nDecember 3, 2013  The Honorable Ernest Moniz  Secretary of Energy   U.S. Department of Energy  1000 Independence Avenue, SW  Washington, DC 20585\r\nDear Mr. Secretary;\r\nWe 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 national security, energy security and nonproliferation needs.\u00a0\u00a0 We know you share these concerns and therefore, we support the Department of Energy\u2019s (DOE) efforts in identifying viable near-term and long-term options that will preserve our domestic enrichment supply using U.S. origin technology.\r\nWe 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\r\nThe Administration's continued efforts to develop this technology in Ohio have been supported by the Ohio Congressional Delegation.\u00a0 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\u2019s important nuclear nonproliferation agenda.\r\nThank you for continuing to work with the Ohio delegation on this matter.\u00a0 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.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], 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