MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY

FROM: Timothy Hauser

Acting Under Secretary for International Trade

SUBJECT: Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations on Low Enriched Uranium from France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom

At 5:00p.m., on Wednesday, December 27, 2000, Commerce announced the initiation of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on low enriched uranium from France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The petitions were filed by USEC Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, the United States Enrichment Corporation, and were joined by the Paper, Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC, and Local 5-550 and Local 5-689. Based on the nature of the industry, the Ad Hoc Utilities Group (a group of 14 U.S. utilities that produce energy using nuclear fuel), the potential European respondents (European uranium enrichers Urenco and Eurodif), the European Commission and four governments opposed the petition arguing that USEC is not the sole domestic producer of LEU and, therefore, does not have sufficient support to file the petition. The Department determined that USEC accounts for 100 percent of the domestic industry and that the petition meets standards for initiation.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) is holding a public hearing on December 28, 2000, prior to making its preliminary injury determination by January 22, 2001. If the ITC makes an affirmative determination, the due date for the Department's countervailing duty preliminary determinations will be March 2, 2001 (unextended); the due date for the antidumping preliminary determinations will be May 16, 2001 (unextended).