Aug 5 2010
International Isotopes Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: INIS) announces further progress in its plans to license and construct the nation's first commercial depleted uranium de-conversion and fluorine extraction processing facility near Hobbs, New Mexico.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has conducted its public scoping meeting on the project as part of its license and environmental impact statement review process. The meeting was conducted in Hobbs, New Mexico on July 29, 2010. Various members of the public and State, and local government officials spoke during the meeting and expressed their unanimous support and confidence in International Isotopes' ability to complete the project and operate the facility in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.
Steve T. Laflin, President and CEO of International Isotopes Inc. said, "We are very pleased with the strong support this project continues to receive from the State and local community. As a new commercial business in southeast New Mexico, we recognize the importance of maintaining this positive relationship with the community and our continuing obligations to construct a safe facility and protect the environment".
The Company also announces it has received approval from the Department of Energy for the adequacy of its Part 1 application under the loan guarantee program solicitation for renewable energy and energy savings in manufacturing processes, and has been invited to submit its Part 2 application this year. The Company had submitted its loan guarantee application in June 2010, so the DOE approval comes just about a month after the Part 1 submittal. If approved, the loan guarantee would provide approximately $65 million to be used towards construction of the depleted uranium de-conversion project.
Company CEO Laflin continued, "We are very pleased with the rapid response of the DOE to our Part 1 application and we will immediately commence preparation of Part 2 for submittal by year end. We have submitted our project under the energy savings in manufacturing solicitation of the loan guarantee program on the basis of the energy savings of our fluorine extraction process compared to conventional fluoride gas production methods. Using FEP, we believe we can produce these fluoride products using just a fraction of the energy typically required to produce fluoride products by conventional means, thereby saving millions of pounds of CO2 emissions each year."
Laflin went on to note, "We believe our project brings significant value to the country in terms of addressing the large volumes of depleted uranium hexafluoride that are expected to be produced in the U.S. while simultaneously producing products important to a host of manufacturing processes. We certainly appreciate when that recognition starts to come from many quarters. Over the past few weeks letters of support for our loan guarantee application were provided to the DOE from both the Idaho and the New Mexico delegations. We were gratified to see such strong support for this project from our delegations and the Company will make every effort to maintain our momentum and continue moving this project forward."