DOE RECOMMENDS SPECIAL UNIT TO ENRICH URANIUM
Energy Secretary John Herrington told
Congress that a federally chartered corporation would be the
best way to manage and operate the government's uranium
enrichment program.
    He said in a letter to Congressmen that unless the program,
now run by the Energy Department, is improved, sales worth five
billion dlrs could be lost between 1990 and 2000.
    The program now has annual commercial sales of about one
billion dlrs and holds 50 pct of the free world market for
enrichment services.
    A department official said the world market for enriched
uranium for reactors for power utilities is increasingly
competitive and private entity could better tap it.
    The Administration's plan to spin off the department's 
uranium enrichment operation is in line with it effort to
reduce the federal government's role in areas where it feels
private enterprise could be more efficient.
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