'Green' De-Conversion Project for Depleted Uranium to Move Forward

International Isotopes is going ahead with its plan to implement the first commercial, environmentally friendly facility for the de-conversion of depleted uranium in the United States.

The company’s plans remain undeterred in spite of the destruction of Japan’s nuclear power plant due to the tsunami and earthquake. The devastating natural calamities in Japan had made the investors reconsider their investments in businesses that depend on nuclear fuel. This had heavily influenced International Isotopes to recently terminate its plan to finalize an underwritten public offering of common shares, which in turn gave rise to doubts in the market about the company’s plan to build the Uranium project.

In a release, Steve T. Laflin, company president and CEO, said, "Investors should not confuse the events in Japan as a sign that our company has, in any way, changed our plans or expectations for the commercial success of our depleted uranium processing facility. We firmly believe that recent events do not affect the need for our proprietary solution to safely address depleted uranium and to produce useful products from that material. Although the Company requires significant additional capital to complete construction of the planned depleted uranium de-conversion facility, it has sufficient cash on hand to continue near term planning and will continue to drive the project forward."

International Isotopes is putting in efforts to implement its business plan for the Uranium project successfully. It has made progress in terms of licensing, design and permitting activities related to the project. International Isotopes is committed to remain the unique company in the United States to implement ‘green’ environment-friendly technology for the depletion of uranium commercially.

"International Isotopes remains confident in our business plan and undeterred in our efforts. Our progress continues unabated on our licensing, permitting, and design activities. We believe that nuclear power will continue to play an important role in power production. Even a fraction of the current uranium demands to supply existing reactors will produce an abundance of depleted uranium for de-conversion that would otherwise have to be stockpiled,” he added. “We remain committed to continuing to build a unique company to address the needs of the industry. As the only planned 'green' environmentally friendly option for commercial depleted uranium in the United States we are optimistic about our future business."

International Isotopes is involved in the manufacturing of a complete range of nuclear medicine calibration and reference standards, various cobalt-60 products like teletherapy sources, and high purity fluoride gases. The company is building a green technology, uranium de-conversion plant near Hobbs, N. M.