releases: https://web.archive.org/web/20140301072825/http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/-sen-brown-joins-ohio-congressional-delegation-urging-department-of-energy-to-continue-developing-domestic-uranium-enrichment-in-ohio
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| 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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| https://web.archive.org/web/20140301072825/http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/-sen-brown-joins-ohio-congressional-delegation-urging-department-of-energy-to-continue-developing-domestic-uranium-enrichment-in-ohio | Sen. Brown Joins Ohio Congressional Delegation Urging Department of Energy to Continue Developing Domestic Uranium Enrichment in Ohio | 2013-12-04 | 2013 | 2013-12 | Democrat | House | OH | Sherrod Brown | B000944 | web.archive.org | legacy | Brown Has Led the Fight to Ensure Long Term Funding For the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon Wednesday, December 4, 2013 WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) this week joined members of the Ohio Congressional Delegation in urging the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate its plans toward developing domestic uranium enrichment technology in Ohio. Brown called on DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz to accelerate plans toward the successful development of an advanced centrifuge in advance of the January 15, 2014 deadline by the DOE’s Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) program. “I urge the Administration to continue its effort to develop new enrichment technologies in Ohio,” Brown said. “The American Centrifuge Plant is critical for our national security and southern Ohio’s economy. The DOE must provide a clear way forward for this program before the proposed end date.” Brown has been a champion for the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) in Piketon. He continues to work closely with the United States Energy Corporation (USEC) and DOE to advance the American Centrifuge Project. In December 2012, Brown successfully worked with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) to include $150 million for the ACP in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). He also led the effort to include $150 million in DOE resources for the research, development and demonstration (RD&D) program in the Senate-passed highway bill. Brown’s provision provided resources to help ensure that the ACP is in the strongest position possible to receive a loan guarantee. The RD&D funding will keep Ohioans at work, expedite commercialization of ACP technology, and protect our national security. President Obama’s budget, proposed earlier this year, includes $150 million in RD&D funds for the ACP for fiscal year 2013. In April, Brown met with Energy Sec. Ernest Moniz, than a nominee, to ensure the ACP receives support from DOE which would help create 4,000 jobs in southern Ohio. He also pressed Moniz to continue the Administration’s support of the cleanup at the DOE site—a project currently employing 2,500 people—and to remain committed to working with community partners and the labor force to ensure the cleanup remains on pace. In April 2012, he met with Vice President Biden to urge the Obama Administration to support ACP. Also in 2012, in letters to then-White House Chief of Staff William Daley and then-Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew, Brown emphasized that an expeditious loan approval process would ensure the domestic enrichment of uranium for national security activities. At the end of 2010, Brown urged the Obama Administration to move forward in approving the loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) and to fully fund cleanup at the former Gaseous Diffusion Plant. In 2009, Brown worked with DOE to reach an agreement that resulted in DOE devoting $45 million in new funds to advance the ACP. In October 2010, Brown visited Piketon. One week later, DOE announced that efforts to secure a loan guarantee for USEC have taken a significant step forward. DOE and USEC had reached a framework for further discussions. Full text of the delegations’ letter follows: The Honorable Ernest Moniz Secretary of Energy U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20585 Dear Mr. Secretary; We 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 natural security, energy security and nonproliferation needs. We know you share these concerns and therefore, we support the Department of Energy’s (DOE) efforts in identifying viable near-term and long-term options that will preserve our domestic enrichment supply using U.S. origin technology. We 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. 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. 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. The Administration's continued efforts to develop this technology in Ohio have been supported by the Ohio Congressional Delegation. 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’s important nuclear nonproliferation agenda. Thank you for continuing to work with the Ohio delegation on this matter. 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 |