The Revolving Door Goes Nuclear (Michael Smallberg 4-21-15 Project On Government Oversight/POGO)

[bobthedrummer]

"After years of investigating the well-oiled revolving door between the federal government and the businesses it oversees, we thought we'd seen it all..."
http://www.pogo.org/our-work/articles/2015/the-revolving-door-goes-nuclear.html

Change you can believe in

[bananas]

1. Wait - Poneman became president and CEO of USEC?

http://www.pogo.org/our-work/articles/2015/the-revolving-door-goes-nuclear.html

<snip>

But even our jaws hit the floor when we learned that Daniel Poneman had taken a job as the head of Centrus Energy Corp.

Poneman served from May 2009 to October 2014 as the number two official at the Department of Energy (DOE), in charge of more than 100,000 federal and contractor employees and a budget of just under $30 billion. Less than six months after leaving his government post, Poneman was named the president and CEO of Centrus, where he’ll be making as much as $1.7 million a year. He took charge of the company earlier this month.

If the name Centrus doesn’t ring a bell, that’s because it was known as the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) until last March, when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Before it went under, USEC had enjoyed decades of special treatment from DOE and other government offices. Like its predecessor, Centrus is likely to need a lifeline from U.S. taxpayers in order to stay afloat. With Poneman now on board, the company may be able to utilize his cachet to attract future government bailouts, no matter the potential taxpayer losses.

<snip>

In addition, Poneman was in a position to coordinate the Department’s decisions about downblending excess HEU, a material that can be used in small quantities to build a devastating improvised nuclear device. For years POGO has recommended accelerating the pace of downblending HEU into LEU, which would reduce security vulnerabilities, cut costs, and generate millions or even billions in revenue for U.S. taxpayers. Nonetheless, the rate of downblending has steadily decreased over the past ten years, including during Poneman’s tenure.

USEC and Centrus have had a major stake in the rate of downblending. “Given the current oversupplied nuclear fuel market, any additional LEU from downblended highly enriched uranium released into the market would have a significant negative effect on prices for LEU,” Centrus wrote in its latest annual report. POGO has argued, however, that the government could alleviate these fears by storing downblended LEU until market conditions change and by publishing a plan for the material’s release.

During Poneman’s tenure at DOE, the Department’s decreased rate of downblending helped to protect USEC from further fluctuations in uranium prices. Now that Poneman has gone through the revolving door, he’s in a strong position to represent Centrus’s position on downblending and other issues.

Poneman’s movement to Centrus also raises questions about his treatment of other companies and industries during his time at DOE. In 2010, he issued a memo that called on DOE officials to provide “near-term relief” and “longer-term streamlining” of safety and security requirements for Department contractors. Several years later, he offered a lifeline to the over-budget Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) program at the Savannah River Site when it was targeted for cancelation. Poneman’s posture suggests he was keeping several companies and industries happy before he decided on his post-government career path.

<snip>

[bobthedrummer]

2. No one could make this up, bananas, no one. He's been networking with folks like Brent Scowcroft.

Daniel Poneman (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Poneman