French firm talks about $2 billion uranium enrichment plant near Idaho National Laboratory

January 31, 2008

Areva Inc., a French government-controlled nuclear energy company, is in talks with officials in Idaho and other states over a planned $2 billion uranium enrichment facility that by 2014 could supply fuel to commercial nuclear power plants.

Areva recently hired Erika Malmen, wife of Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's former chief of staff, Jeff Malmen, to lobby Otter and state legislators, according to documents obtained from the Idaho secretary of state by The Associated Press.

Lawmakers said they've been drafting legislation to provide hundreds of millions in tax incentives to help persuade the company to build a plant near the Idaho National Laboratory http://www.inl.gov nuclear reservation near Idaho Falls.

By JOHN MILLER

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