Washington (Platts)--17Jan2008

Senator Pete Domenici says he will work with Congress and the
Administration this year to ensure the development of "robust" US uranium
enrichment capabilities.
Currently, 80% of US enrichment services are imported, and 42% of those
imports come from Russia under a US-Russia nonproliferation agreement to
convert excess reserves of high-enriched uranium, or HEU, into commercial
nuclear fuel, Domenici's office said January 17 in a statement. It added that
Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, believes that the US "should encourage
Russia to continue to meet the nonproliferation goals embodied in the HEU
agreement by providing access to the US market so long as a portion of that
material is derived from Russian HEU legacy stockpiles." Domenici issued the
comment following a meeting with Urenco and LES on the LES National Enrichment
Facility being built in his state.