RESPONSES FROM CHARLES WILLIAM BURTON TO QUESTIONS FROM SENATOR JOHNSTON Question 1. How soon will USEC be ready to offer its stock or assets for sale to private investors after enactment of the pending privatization bill? Answer. If pending legislation is enacted into law this month, USEC estimates that evaluations of proceeds from potential merger/acquisition and public offerings could be completed this autumn, with a sale by the end of fiscal year 1996. Question 2. How will USEC's fortunes fare if Congress fails to enact the bill this year? Answer. If the Congress does not enact the privatization legislation this year, the difficult and time-consuming process would have to be repeated by the next Congress. Experience shows this would likely stimulate even further delays. Failure to pass the legislation this session would certainly imperil the now smoothly operating Russian HEU agreement, as the solution to payment for the natural uranium feed is contained in pending legislation. That delay would certainly affect national security interests. Another impact would be to lose the proceeds of the sale in a time period which Senator Dominici indicated was critical, since the sale proceeds have been accounted for by the Administration and Congress. EURATOM AGREEMENT Question 3. How important is the pending agreement with EURATOM to USEC's business, both in Europe and Japan? Question 4. What will happen to USEC's ability to compete for new business in both Europe and Japan if the pending agreement does not go into effect? Answer. USEC submitted a statement to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs for its February 28, 1996, hearing on the U.S.-EURATOM agreement. A copy of that statement is enclosed. In essence, USEC stated that if the agreement was not passed or was unacceptable to signatories due to added conditions, the following impacts could occur: Loss to the USEC of existing and new customer commitments with a $2 billion impact over the next 10 years, and denial of competitive access to a market worth an additional $10 billion. • USEC would be precluded from being a supplier to Japan and other Asian nations. This cumulative impact would greatly affect the viability of our operations at the gaseous diffusion plants which employ 1,804 people in Kentucky and 2,579 people in Ohio. Question 5. How many people does USEC employ in Ohio? |