INDUSTRY MEETING/DOE DEPLETED URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE MGMT PROGRAM The Department of Energy's (DOE) Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program will hold a meeting on June 2, 1998, at its Germantown, Maryland facility. This meeting is designed to inform industry representatives and others about the program and the opportunities for participation. The Department expects that this activity will lead to methods that would contribute to improvements in the long-term management of the DOE's depleted uranium inventory. In December 1997, DOE issued a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) seeking public comment on alternatives for long-term management of DOE's 560,000 metric ton inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride. This inventory is stored at the gaseous diffusion plant sites at Portsmouth, Ohio; Paducah, Kentucky; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Several of the alternatives presented in the draft PEIS involve conversion of the depleted uranium hexafluoride to a different chemical form. As part of the information-gathering process, DOE is seeking viewson technical, financial, institutional, and regulatory approaches DOE could use to begin conversion operations as soon as possible. DOE will hold a meeting in its Germantown, Maryland facility to discuss the process for industry participation in its Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program. This is the first of several meetings to make industry representatives and others aware of the program and the process for participation. Such industry participation could lead to methods that would contribute to improvements in the long-term management of the inventory. These methods could involve, for example, material handling, material conversion, and possible applications for any conversion products. This first meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 2, 1998. DOE plans to hold two additional meetings on this same topic. One will be held on June 29, 1998 at the Radisson Inn located at the Cincinnati, Ohio airport. The other meeting will held in Knoxville, Tennessee during the first week of August 1998. These meetings are being scheduled and conducted so that an individual can receive all the pertinent program information at any one of the meetings. Further information on registering to attend these meetings is available from Charlotte L. Johnson at 800-517-3191. Questions about the DOE's Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program should be addressed to Charles Bradley at 301-903-5512.

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