USEC Provides American Centrifuge Plant Update

USEC Inc. (NYSE:USU) has begun talks with the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) Loan Guarantee Program office using a draft term sheet as a
framework for discussion as the next step toward a conditional
commitment to finance construction of the American Centrifuge Plant. The
project will support nearly 8,000 jobs during its construction.

In late October, DOE provided USEC a draft term sheet after DOE largely
completed its initial technical review of USEC′s application for a $2
billion loan guarantee. During the third quarter, DOE had been reviewing
a comprehensive update submitted July 30 of USEC′s loan guarantee
application that reflected the significant steps taken by USEC in the
past year. Completion of due diligence by DOE and negotiation of terms
and conditions with DOE are the next steps toward the potential issuance
of a conditional commitment, and we will be working with DOE to complete
those in an expeditious manner.

'In the past year, we have made good technical and financial progress
with the ACP,? said John K. Welch, USEC president and chief executive
officer. 'We believe that record of accomplishment, and the cooperative
environment that we′ve established with DOE, will move the process
forward toward a timely and mutually agreeable conditional commitment.?

USEC is investing in advanced centrifuge technology to meet the growing
U.S. energy needs of a growing U.S. population, and to provide a
long-term, reliable and secure fuel source for domestic and
international nuclear power plants. We believe that the AC100 centrifuge
machine that USEC will deploy in the American Centrifuge Plant will be
the most advanced uranium enrichment centrifuge machine in the world. As
the only domestic enrichment facility using U.S. centrifuge technology,
the American Centrifuge Plant will help to rebuild U.S. nuclear
manufacturing capabilities and support several U.S. government policy
objectives.

As of September 30, 2010, USEC had invested approximately $1.9 billion
in the American Centrifuge program, which includes approximately $738
million charged to expense over several years for technology development
and demonstration. We have operated centrifuges as part of our lead
cascade test program for more than 500,000 machine hours. This
experience gives us confidence in the performance of our technology, and
provides operating data and expertise to support our loan guarantee
application as we transition to commercial operation.

Accomplishments in 2010

Due to the uncertainty of funding, beginning in August 2009, we
substantially demobilized and reduced construction and machine
manufacturing activities in the American Centrifuge project. Because we
deferred high-volume machine manufacturing, work at all of our strategic
suppliers has been sharply reduced. Over the past year since the project
was demobilized, we have worked aggressively to strengthen the project,
address DOE's concerns and attract  additional sources of capital.  Key
actions include:

• 
  Produced detailed updates to project scope, cost and schedule based on
  close collaboration with our suppliers;
  
• 
  Submitted an update to our DOE loan guarantee application,
  incorporating the updated project cost and schedule;
  
• 
  Closed on the first phase of the $200 million strategic investment by
  Toshiba Corporation and Babcock & Wilcox Investment Company (B&W);
  
• 
  Initiated discussions with Japanese export credit agencies regarding
  financing a portion of the cost of building the plant;
  
• 
  Operated our lead cascade of production-ready AC100 machines in a
  commercial plant cascade configuration and accumulated significant
  runtime;
  
• 
  Worked under a March 2010 cooperative agreement with DOE for pro-rata
  cost sharing support for continued American Centrifuge activities with
  a total estimated cost of $90 million, including continued operation
  of the AC100 cascade, manufacturing of additional AC100 centrifuge
  machines, and refinement to the rotor tube manufacturing process in
  preparation for full, high-rate production;
  
• 
  Refurbished machine positions in the area used for the initial lead
  cascade that operated starting in August 2007 in preparation for
  installation of additional AC100 machines during the next several
  months to accumulate additional operating hours; and
  
• 
  Continued machine technology development in Oak Ridge in support of
  lead cascade testing, value engineering and increasing machine
  productivity.
  

We have also re-started limited engineering work on portions of the
physical plant infrastructure to facilitate the ramp up of construction
activities in the future. In 2011, we expect to continue assembling and
operating AC100 machines in our lead cascade that reflect improvements
identified in prior testing. These machines are expected to support our
target production level of approximately 350 SWU per machine, per year.

Go-forward Estimate to Complete the American Centrifuge Plant

We have been working with our suppliers to update the scope, cost and
schedule to build the American Centrifuge Plant. In August 2010, we
announced our estimated cost of approximately $2.8 billion to complete
the American Centrifuge project from the point of closing on financing.
This estimate includes AC100 machine manufacturing and assembly,
engineering procurement, and construction costs and related
balance-of-plant work, start-up and initial operations, and project
management. We believe we have substantially reduced risk in the
American Centrifuge project since our initial baseline project budget in
2008, and our new cost estimate is based on a significantly more mature
project scope.

The $2.8 billion estimate is a go-forward cost estimate and does not
include our investment to date, spending from now until closing on
financing needed to complete the plant, overall project contingency,
financing costs or financial assurance. We expect to continue to invest
at a rate consistent with our anticipated spending indicated in our
outlook for the remainder of 2010, while taking into account our
anticipated cash flow from operations and other available liquidity. We
are currently evaluating the appropriate level for the overall project
contingency taking into account the level of risk given the maturity of
the project. We are also evaluating the financing costs and financial
assurance required for the project, which will be affected by, among
other things, the overall financing plan for the project, the amount of
the credit subsidy cost for any DOE loan guarantee, and the amount and
sources of the additional financing we need to complete the project.

We continue to work with suppliers to refine our estimates, while
seeking reductions in the project cost and greater schedule certainty.
We anticipate it will require 18 to 24 months to begin initial
commercial operations upon receiving financing to complete the plant. We
also anticipate that it will require 30 to 36 months to complete the
plant after initial commercial operations.

Additional Funding Required

As noted earlier, on September 2, 2010, the $75 million first phase of a
$200 million total investment by Toshiba Corporation and B&W closed. The
second phase of the investment of $50 million and the third phase of the
investment of $75 million are subject to additional conditions. We will
need additional financing to complete plant construction. We believe a
loan guarantee under the DOE Loan Guarantee Program is essential to
raising the capital needed to complete the American Centrifuge Plant. In
addition, to complete the project, we will require additional capital
beyond the $2 billion DOE loan guarantee, proceeds from the investment
from Toshiba and B&W, and internally generated cash flow. In order to
obtain a DOE loan guarantee, we will need to demonstrate that sufficient
capital is available to complete the project. We have initiated
discussions with Japanese export credit agencies regarding financing a
portion of the cost of building the plant. Their willingness to provide
financing is closely tied with our obtaining a DOE loan guarantee.
Funding under a DOE loan guarantee will only occur following conditional
commitment, final documentation and satisfaction of conditions to
funding. We have no assurance that we will be successful in obtaining
any or all of the financing we are seeking.

USEC Inc., a global energy company, is a leading supplier of enriched
uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. For more information
on the project, visit www.americancentrifuge.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This  news  release  contains 'forward-looking statements? ? that is,
statements related to future events. In this context, forward-looking
statements may address our expected future business and financial
performance, and often contain words such as 'expects,? 'anticipates,?
'intends,? 'plans,? 'believes,? 'will? and other words of similar
meaning. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that
are, to different degrees, uncertain. For USEC, particular risks and
uncertainties that could cause our actual future results to differ
materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to: risks related to the deployment of the
American Centrifuge technology, including risks related to performance,
cost, schedule and financing; our success in obtaining a loan guarantee
for the American Centrifuge Plant, including our ability to address the
technical and financial concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Energy
('DOE?); our ability to reach agreement with DOE on acceptable terms of
a conditional commitment, including credit subsidy cost, and our ability
to meet any required conditions to funding; our ability to raise capital
beyond the $2 billion of DOE loan guarantee funding for which we have
applied; the impact of the demobilization of the American Centrifuge
project and uncertainty regarding our ability to remobilize the project
and the potential for termination of the project; our ability to meet
the November 2010 milestone under the June 2002 DOE-USEC Agreement
related to financing the American Centrifuge project and other remaining
milestones under that agreement; restrictions in our revolving credit
facility that may impact our operating and financial flexibility and
spending on the American Centrifuge project; risks related to the
completion of the remaining two phases of the three-phased strategic
investment by Toshiba Corporation ('Toshiba?) and Babcock & Wilcox
Investment Company ('B&W?), including our ability to satisfy the
significant closing conditions in the securities purchase agreement
governing the transactions and the impact of a failure to consummate the
transactions on our business and prospects; certain restrictions that
may be placed on our business as a result of  the transactions with
Toshiba and B&W our ability to achieve the benefits of any strategic
relationships with Toshiba and B&W pricing trends and demand in the
uranium and enrichment markets and their impact on our profitability;
changes in U.S. government priorities and the availability of government
funding, including loan guarantees; the impact of government regulation;
the competitive environment for our products and services; changes in
the nuclear energy industry; and other risks and uncertainties discussed
in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For a
discussion of these risks and uncertainties and other factors that may
affect our future results, please see Item 1A entitled 'Risk Factors?
and the other sections of  our quarterly report on Form 10-Q and  our
annual report on Form 10-K, which are available on our website, www.usec.com.
We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements except as
required by law.

USEC Inc.

Investors:

Steven Wingfield, 301-564-3354

or

Media:

Paul
Jacobson, 301-564-3399