The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board anticipates a licensing decision for the United States Enrichment Corp., Inc.'s American Centrifuge Plant in May 2007.

The NRC originally said a decision would come in March 2007.

The ASLB is basing its prediction on a 2004 NRC ruling which said the board would probably issue its decision within 240 days of the issuance of the final Safety Evaluation Report for the company's license application.

The NRC issued the report on Sept. 11, 2006.

The decision is important because the company plans on building the plant after the license is issued, should the NRC grant the license.

USEC, Inc. wants to begin a new way of enriching uranium by the end of the decade at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.

The company leases the plant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

USEC, Inc. first plans to build a demonstration plant for the new technology during the first half of next year. The plant was supposed to start this year, but did not.

The NRC gave the company a license for the test plant in 2004.

According to company officials, initial testing of machines in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for the demonstration plant have gone well.

In other USEC news, Peggy Karr was promoted to the position of compensation manager.

She will be responsible for operating the company's compensation programs for salaried employees in Piketon, Paducah, Ky., and Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Karr will work from the Piketon plant, where she has been employed for 27 years.

She had been a compensation consultant in the human resources department since 1998.

JEFF BARRON can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 236.