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Stockholders' Equity
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Stockholders' Equity [Abstract]  
Stockholders' Equity
13. STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

Common Stock

Changes in the number of shares of common stock outstanding follow (in thousands):

   
Shares
Issued
    
Treasury
Stock
    
Shares
Outstanding
  
Balance at December 31, 2008                                                   
     123,320       (11,564 )     111,756  
Common stock issued                                                   
     -       1,638       1,638  
Balance at December 31, 2009                                                   
     123,320       (9,926 )     113,394  
Common stock issued                                                   
     -       1,836       1,836  
Balance at December 31, 2010                                                   
     123,320       (8,090 )     115,230  
Common stock issued                                                   
     6,953       1,008       7,961  
Balance at December 31, 2011
     130,273       (7,082 )     123,191  

 
Preferred Stock Purchase Rights

On September 30, 2011, the Board of Directors adopted a tax benefit preservation plan to help preserve the value of certain deferred tax benefits, including those generated by net operating losses and net unrealized built-in losses. USEC's ability to use these tax benefits would be substantially limited if it were to experience an "ownership change" as defined under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code.  Holders of USEC's common stock of record on October 10, 2011 received rights that initially trade together with USEC's common stock and are not exercisable.

Effective September 30, 2011, the plan, subject to limited exceptions, provides that any stockholder or group that acquires beneficial ownership of 4.9 percent or more of USEC's securities without the approval of the Board of Directors would be subject to significant dilution of its holdings. In addition, subject to limited exceptions, any existing 4.9 percent or greater stockholder that acquires beneficial ownership of any additional shares of USEC's securities without the approval of the Board of Directors would also be subject to dilution. In both cases, such person would be deemed to be an "acquiring person" for purposes of the tax plan. The dilution features of the tax plan are designed to reduce the likelihood that USEC experiences an ownership change by discouraging acquisitions that would impact the ownership change analysis for purposes of Section 382.

If a person becomes an acquiring person, then, subject to certain exceptions, the preferred stock purchase rights would separate from the common stock and common stock equivalents and become exercisable for USEC's common stock or other securities or assets having a market value equal to twice the exercise price of the right. The Board of Directors has established procedures to consider requests to exempt certain acquisitions of the company's securities from the plan if the Board determines that doing so would not limit or impair the availability of the tax benefits or is otherwise in the best interests of the company.

Convertible Preferred Stock and Common Stock Warrants

Refer to Note 8 regarding the investment in USEC by Toshiba and B&W. In the first phase closing on September 2, 2010, USEC received $75 million and the investors in aggregate received 75,000 shares of Series B-1 12.75% Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $1.00 per share and warrants to purchase 6.25 million shares of Class B Common Stock, par value $.10 per share, at an exercise price of $7.50 per share. The creation of the Class B Common Stock will require the approval of our stockholders, so the warrants will, in lieu thereof, until such stockholder approval has been obtained, be exercisable for 6,250 shares of a newly created Series C Convertible Participating Preferred Stock, par value $1.00 per share, at an exercise price of $7,500.00 per share. The warrants are exercisable at any time from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016. If, at the time the warrants are exercised, the approvals for the creation of the Class B Common have not been obtained, the warrants will be exercisable for shares of Series C Convertible Participating Preferred Stock.