Washington (Platts)--12Mar2008

Releasing the US Department of Energy's uranium into the marketplace in
quantities representing about 10% of total annual fuel requirements "should
not have an adverse material impact on the domestic uranium industry," Energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday.

In a policy statement on management of DOE's inventory of excess uranium,
Bodman said DOE "anticipates that it may introduce into the domestic market,
in any given year, less than that amount, or, in some years for certain
special purposes such as the provision of initial core loads for new reactors,
more than that amount."

Bodman said that in the coming years, DOE expects to downblend "most" of
its excess high-enriched uranium into low-enriched uranium, or LEU.

The department also is "evaluating the desirability of enriching a
portion" of its natural-uranium inventories, Bodman said. The assessment will
take into account "costs, market conditions, programmatic priorities and
potential uses," he said.
--Daniel Horner, daniel_horner@platts.com