USEC, U.S. Government Win Supreme Court Uranium Fight

The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in favor of American nuclear fuel producer USEC Inc., upheld antidumping duties imposed by the Bush administration in 2002 on enriched uranium imported by France’s Areva SA.

The justices unanimously rejected Area’s contentions that U.S. antidumping law doesn’t apply because the company provides enrichment services, rather than a product. U.S. nuclear power companies backed Areva in the case, as did Alcoa Inc., perhaps the country’s largest nongovernmental consumer of electricity.

The decision overturns a ruling that the Bush administration had said “threatened the ongoing economic viability of USEC,” the only U.S. company that enriches uranium.

The Commerce Department concluded in 2001 that Areva, the world’s largest maker of nuclear reactors, was selling enriched uranium in the U.S. at less than fair value. The following year, the U.S. International Trade Commission said that Areva’s actions were harming USEC, clearing the way for the Commerce Department to impose an import duty.

The Court of International Trade then overturned the ITC ruling, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington agreed with that conclusion.

The case is United States v. Eurodif, 07-1059, and USEC v. Eurodif, 07-1078, U.S. Supreme Court (Washington).

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