after the bell, page-8

More likely that they will keep to their release date. It is US bureaucracy.

The more significant price factor may be the problem that competitors are having in raising funds. The Idaho News reported in early July that Areva will delay its decision to go ahead with its $3 billion approx plant in Idaho. It now looks like 2014 at the earliest. USEC is living hand to mouth on grants from the Dept of Energy with a collapsed share price so a need for debt now that an equity raising is almost out of the question.

It may be wrong to assume that they are stuggling to gain support because of the Global Laser Alliance, but it is likely to be factor in delays based on the relatively comparative operating costs and the small physical footprint of the laser design. If proposed capex is around one billion for the Wilmington plant and $3b for the Idaho plant and opex for laser perhaps 30- 50% cheaper, it would seem pointless to fund a potentially dead-end technology.

Even with the $2 billion loan guarantee Areva has from the DoE, bankers would also be very uneasy about financing the remaining one billion for a centrigue plant in the US post Fukushima, with the slow-down in new nuclear plant exapansion in the US and at a time when US gas prices are at rock bottom prices at $2 a therm.

GE also holds about $83 billion in cash at the moment so its capex share of the Wilmington plant would be relatively insignificant.