USW Supports New Agreement to Limit Russian Uranium

Legislation required to eliminate threat to domestic industry and jobs

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- United Steelworkers (USW)
International President Leo W. Gerard confirmed today support for a new
long-term suspension agreement being signed late today between government
representatives of the U.S. and Russia that sets limits on exports of uranium
products, including commercial Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU), at levels that
won't threaten the workforce producing this in Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois.
(Logo: here )
The agreement is an update to a long-standing deal that was entered into
after the USW brought an anti-dumping trade case against uranium products from
Russia. Since then, all such products have been limited under a quota.
Rob Ervin, President of USW Local 550, representing the workforce at the
U.S. Enrichment Corp. (USEC) facility in Paducah, Ky., has been involved in
efforts to assure that the agreement satisfied union and industry concerns.
"It is critical to maintain domestic production of nuclear fuel at the only
remaining enrichment plant at Paducah." Dan Minter, President of USW Local
689, who represents other uranium enrichment workers added: "This is necessary
for timely completion of a new and modernized facility for future production
at Piketon, Ohio, and will replace an enrichment plant shutdown in 2001."
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and Russian Federal Atomic
Energy Agency (Rosatom) Director Sergey Kiriyenko are signing the agreement at
Washington Dulles International Airport, which will govern trade in uranium
products, including LEU through 2020.
The USW believes that overall the agreement sets reasonable quota limits
on uranium products going forward, including LEU, which is used for commercial
fuel purposes. Gerard said, "This agreement will insure that our domestic
commercial nuclear fuel industry will remain viable and indeed be able to
expand production to secure America's energy future."
The Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)
recently determined it was necessary to continue this agreement since there
remained a real threat that Rosatom would resume dumping enriched uranium
products in the U.S. market if the suspension agreement was terminated.
However, because of a legal technicality, not all LEU can be covered under
the quota agreement. Russian LEU imports sold under contracts for so-called
Separative Work Units (SWU) cannot be legally covered. So to make sure that
the Russians will not undermine the effectiveness of the agreement, the USW
received a strong commitment from congressional leaders and top officials in
the U.S. Department of State, the Defense Department, the Energy Department
and the Commerce Department that legislation, recently introduced following
efforts by the USW in both the U.S. Senate and House, will be supported to fix
the legal gap in coverage by amending the Tariff Act of 1930.
According to Local 550 President Ervin, the proposed legislation would
make clear that all imports of low enriched uranium are subject to coverage
under the anti-dumping law. "Coupled with the agreement, the legislation will
provide our workforce and country the security we need to maintain a stable
source of nuclear fuel and prevent a flood of unfairly-traded imports," Ervin
explained.
The USW represents workers at the only remaining uranium enrichment plant
in the U.S. in Paducah, and a conversion facility is in Metropolis, IL. The
USW also advocates support for the U.S. Enrichment Corporation (USEC) to build
a new uranium enrichment plant in Piketon, OH.
SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

Rob Ervin, +1-270-441-5967, +1-270-331-1360, or Gary Hubbard, +1-202-778-4384,
+1-202-256-8125, both of United Steelworkers (USW)