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* Resolves contract dispute with acid supplier * To restart UF6 production in third quarter * Shares up 4.4 percent TORONTO, May 19 (Reuters) - Cameco Corp (CCO.TO) said on Tuesday it will restart production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at its Port Hope, Ontario, plant after resolving a contract dispute with a key supplier. The uranium producer suspended production of UF6 -- used in the uranium enrichment process -- last December after failing to come to terms with its main supplier of hydrofluoric acid, which is needed to produce UF6.

Resumes UF6 production at Ontario plant * Had expected to resume output in third quarter * No change to fuel services production outlook TORONTO, June 17 (Reuters) - Cameco Corp (CCO.TO) said on Wednesday it has restarted production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at its Port Hope, Ontario, nuclear fuel conversion facility, slightly ahead of schedule. The uranium producer suspended production of UF6 -- used in the uranium enrichment process -- last December after failing to come to terms with its main supplier of hydrofluoric acid, which is needed to produce UF6.

"A recent report issued by Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) states that a possible safety concern at the Erwin facility has been resolved. In January, NFS issued an event report to the NRC regarding UF6 cylinders being stored at the facility. In this report, dated Jan. 20, 2010, NFS informs the NRC that the company had calculated some unexpectedly high pressures in some of the UF6 cylinders, which contain fluorine gas."

The suspension of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production at Cameco Corp.'s Port Hope, Ont., conversion facility will result in layoffs at the plant but will not affect its uranium production in Saskatchewan, the company says. Cameco Corp. announced Friday it has temporarily suspended UF6 production at Port Hope due to a contract dispute with its hydrofluoric acid (HF) supplier. The Saskatoon-based company, one of the world's largest uranium producers, says the dispute has resulted in unreliable and expensive deliveries of HF.

After a long and challenging 14 months, Cameco Corporation has received permission to resume production at its uranium hexaflouride (UF6) plant. "We're in the final stages of putting the plant back into operation and production should start within the next several days," said Andy Oliver, vice president of Cameco's fuel services division, during a presentation to Port Hope council on Sept. 16. He detailed the status of the contamination at Cameco's Port Hope conversion plant.

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week released a request for proposals (RFP) for a contractor to perform Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Operations at the two DUF6 conversion facilities at Piketon and Paducah, Kentucky. The procurement will be for a single contractor to be awarded two cost-plus-award-fee contracts. The contract period will be for five years with a total estimated cost for the two contracts of $350-450 million. These facilities will convert DOE's inventory of DUF6, located at the Portsmouth and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plants, into a stable chemical form that will be acceptable for transportation, reuse or disposal. The contractor will also provide cylinder surveillance and maintenance of the DUF6, low-enrichment uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and natural assay UF6 as well as empty the cylinders that store the DUF6 in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner. The contracts are expected to be awarded in 2010

"A ship carrying 650 tons of uranium waste arrived in Russia's second largest city, St. Petersburg, Greenpeace said on Monday. The dangerous cargo of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which belongs to the French nuclear energy group Areva, was then loaded onto railway cars to be transported to the Siberian Chemical Combine in the Tomsk region, the statement added. The Russian vessel, the Kapitan Kuroptev arrived in St. Petersburg in the early hours of Monday. The ship had already been a source of controversy after a group of nature activists tried to stop it from entering the port in 2005 when it was carrying a similar cargo of spent nuclear fuel. According to international standards, however, uranium hexafluoride is not considered nuclear waste, and can be transformed into fuel to release energy for nuclear power stations. France's Areva and Britain's Urenco, a European consortium which supplies equipment to enrich uranium for the nuclear industry, has shipped some 140,000 tons of nuclear waste over the last 15 years to Russia."

"On January 30, 2009, General Electric (GE)-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE) submitted an environmental report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to construct, operate, and decommission the GLE Global Laser Enrichment Facility. The proposed GLE Facility would be located in the North-Central Sector of the existing GE property near Wilmington, North Carolina. The proposed GLE Facility, if licensed, would enrich uranium for use in commercial nuclear fuel for power reactors. Feed material would be comprised of non-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6). GLE would employ a laser-based enrichment process to enrich uranium to up to eight percent uranium-235 by weight, with an initial planned maximum target production of six million separative work units (SWUs) per year. GLE expects to begin preconstruction activities in 2011. If the license is approved, GLE would expect to begin facility construction in 2012, and continue some construction activities through 2017. GLE anticipates commencing initial production in 2013 and reaching peak production in 2017. Prior to license expiration in 2052, GLE would seek to renew its license to continue operating the facility, or plan for the decontamination and decommissioning of the facility per the applicable licensing conditions and NRC regulations. The proposed GLE Facility would be licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act. Specifically, an NRC license under Title 10, "Energy," of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Parts 30, 40, and 70 would be required to authorize GLE to possess and use special nuclear material, source material, and byproduct material at the proposed GLE site."

Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer, is suspending uranium-processing temporarily at a plant in Canada because of a dispute over supplies of hydrofluoric acid used in the production of nuclear fuel. Output of uranium hexafluoride at its Port Hope, Ontario, plant will be halted until the second half of next year because of "unreliable and expensive deliveries" of hydrofluoric acid, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco said today in a statement. The acid is used in uranium oxide's conversion into uranium hexafluoride, or UF6, a critical step in the fuel-making process.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today questioned Westinghouse officials about 4.5 ounces of uranium that went missing in February from its fuel-making plant in Columbia, S.C. The NRC held an enforcement hearing in Atlanta to discuss the loss of 16 sample vials of uranium hexafluoride, also known as UF6.

Andy Thorne, general manager of Cameco Corp.'s Port Hope conversion facility, provided an update on the contamination situation to about 80 Port Hope residents Monday, similar to the one provided to Port Hope council last Tuesday. Yellow staining was observed in the bottom of excavation pit in the UF6 building on July 13, 2007, and Cameco halted production six days later, once it was discovered the contamination was more widespread than originally thought.

The safety of drinking water from Lake Ontario is a concern to Cobourg in light of recent contamination fears originating in Port Hope. "It appears that uranium, fluoride and arsenic has reached the harbour, but we can't be sure until we can collect more data," Cameco communications specialist Doug Prendergast told Port Hope council last week. He said Cameco has been busy installing wells along the harbour wall area, and is about halfway through the installation of 22 wells, and they expect to begin collecting data within the next few weeks. Over the past 10 months, Cameco and Golder Associates have been working to trace the path of contamination discovered in July 2007, when employees found yellow staining in the UF6 pla

"EnergySolutions Inc., as the managing partner for Uranium Disposition Services (UDS), marked the commencement of the initial operation of the DUF6 Conversion Facility at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. EnergySolutions, working closely with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), took control of the project in 2007 to manage the operational reviews and construction, completing the project within budget and ahead of schedule. Working closely with AREVA NP Inc. and Burns and Roe Enterprises, the work involved managing the operational reviews and construction. The facilities will be used to convert DOE inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) into a stable form for beneficial use, re-use and/or disposal."