Peter Vescovi
Licensing Manager
Orano Enrichment USA

Abstract

Geopolitical relations, climate change, and increasing demand for electricity are paving the way for new uranium enrichment capacity in the US. In March 2024, President Joe Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, which, among other priorities, provided $2.72 billion for increasing U.S. domestic nuclear fuel supply chain capacity to meet the needs of U.S. operating nuclear reactors and future reactor designs. Congress specified that DOE could not access this funding until Congress or the Administration took action to prohibit or limit the import of Russian uranium. In April 2024, the Senate passed the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act. The U.S. Department of Energy is taking steps to reduce U.S. nuclear energy dependency on Russia by supporting the expansion of the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain and creating new domestic HALEU production capacity.  Domestic uranium enrichment will secure America’s energy future.

With U.S. headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and global headquarters in Paris, France, Orano is a leading technology and services provider for the commercial and federal nuclear industries. The company specializes in uranium mining/conversion/enrichment, used nuclear fuel management and recycling, decommissioning shutdown nuclear energy facilities, federal site clean-up and closure, and developing nuclear medicines to fight cancer. Orano has more than 60 years of industrial experience in uranium conversion, chemistry and enrichment and recently modernized its facilities for decades more of reliable operations and supply. Orano currently provides 12% of global uranium enrichment capacity through its fuel enrichment site in France.

Biography

Mr. Vescovi has more than 40 years of service in the nuclear industry. His nuclear knowledge, training and experience were largely accumulated at commercial, Department of Energy, and Department of Defence nuclear facilities. Mr. Vescovi served in various operations, design engineering, project engineering roles
since 1980, bringing his expertise in radioactive material transport to Orano in 2014. Mr. Vescovi has provided effective engineering coordination and management for Orano in his project assignments supporting TN Package Design and Transportation: Mr. Vescovi is a licensed Professional Engineer and recognized in Orano as an expert in transportation casks, containment, criticality, and radiation protection.

Thursday, April 10. 2025
4:10 pm seminar

zoom link upon request