The Department of Energy gave billions of dollars, materials and research to a failing nuclear energy company in deals that would “dwarf the Solyndra loan scandal.”
The United States Enrichment Corp. has facilities in Kentucky and Ohio, home states of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner, respectively.
Both McConnell and Boehner have supported USEC along with President Barack Obama.
The company was originally created as a federal agency, but was privatized under President Bill Clinton. Unfortunately, the government has continued to fund the operation. “USEC executives got a $325 million ’emergency supplemental’ appropriation only three months after being after the privatization, and saw hefty raises.”
USEC relies on inefficient technology to enrich uranium for nuclear power plants, relying “on a World War II-era technique called gaseous diffusion.”
Next year, $500 million in bonds will come due which could result in bankruptcy without more taxpayer cash.
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