Bipartisan bill requires the Department of Energy to maximize 

the value of its excess uranium stockpile for the American public.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced the Excess Uranium Transparency and Accountability Act. The bill will bring transparency and accountability to the process by which the Department of Energy (DOE) disposes of the American public’s stockpile of excess uranium. The bill will also ensure American taxpayers receive a fair price for this publicly owned resource.

Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) are original co-sponsors of the Barrasso-Markey bill. U.S. Representatives Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) introduced the bipartisan companion legislation today in the House of Representatives.

For years, DOE has violated its own policies and federal law when managing the public’s stockpile of excess uranium. As a consequence, DOE has failed to obtain a fair return on uranium assets for the American public and wreaked havoc for U.S. uranium producers.    

For example, in 2012, DOE disposed of more than twice the amount of uranium that was specified in DOE’s 2008 Management Plan. DOE transferred much of this uranium to prop up
a failing private uranium enrichment company, USEC Inc. (now called Centrus Energy Corp.).

In 2014, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that DOE violated federal law for, among other reasons, failing to charge a price for the uranium it transferred on behalf of USEC. GAO explained that the net loss to taxpayers may have been as much as $195 million. 

“The Department of Energy has lost all credibility when it comes to managing the public’s stockpile of excess uranium,” said Barrasso. “It’s time for Congress to step in and ensure that the American public has a say in how the Department manages our excess uranium stockpile. Our bipartisan bill will require that the Department dispose of this stockpile in a transparent manner, answer to the public, and maximize the value of this uranium for American taxpayers.”

“The Department of Energy needs a coherent, credible policy for how it manages America's uranium stockpile that maximizes returns for American taxpayers,” said Markey. “This legislation will ensure accountability, transparency and profitability for an energy asset that has gone largely unmanaged. I thank Senator Barrasso for his partnership on this legislation and look forward to working with my colleagues to get it passed.”

Background

The Excess Uranium Transparency and Accountability Act would bring transparency and accountability to the process by which the Department of Energy (DOE) disposes of its excess uranium inventory. Specifically, the bill would:

(1)   require the Secretary of Energy to issue an updated ten-year Excess Uranium
Inventory Management Plan for 2017 to 2026 (and every ten years thereafter) pursuant to the rulemaking process; 

(2)   subject future Secretarial Determinations (whereby the Secretary determines
whether excess uranium transfers will have an adverse material impact on the U.S. uranium mining, conversion, and enrichment industries) to the rulemaking process;

(3)   establish an annual cap on DOE’s excess uranium transfers of 2,100 metric tons of uranium (MTU) (5.487 million pounds) for calendar years 2016 through 2023 and 2,700 MTU (7.06 million pounds) for calendar year 2024 and each year thereafter.

On May 1, 2015, Secretary Moniz authorized excess uranium transfers in the amount of 2,100 MTU per year “in calendar year 2016 and thereafter.” The authorization expires on May 1, 2017.

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