Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
1/8/2016
A decision on potential layoffs at the American Centrifuge Project (ACP) plant in Piketon, Ohio, is expected next week in the event that the Department of Energy (DOE) maintains its choice to defund the facility, a source familiar with the situation said Thursday.
Approximately 60-70 employees at the plant received WARN notices in November and could be laid off next week, with the full workforce facing layoffs by the end of the fiscal year, the source said. The Ohio congressional delegation and Centrus Energy, the company operating the plant, have reached out to DOE with the hope that the shutdown decision will be reversed, the source said.
The sole domestic uranium enrichment facility using U.S. technology features a 120-centrifuge demonstration cascade for nuclear power plant fuel enrichment. The technology could also enrich uranium for the production of tritium used in nuclear weapons. As part of its outreach, Centrus has suggested to DOE several options to continue using the cascade to sustain operations. The company has been funding the plant since the DOE’s defunding decision in September and has invested over $2.6 billion on preparing the technology for deployment since the program’s inception.
The fiscal 2016 omnibus budget provides DOE with $50 million to maintain operations at the Piketon site, funding DOE may use at its discretion for another program if it stays the course on shutting down the Piketon plant. However, the DOE is unlikely to use the money in any fashion, the source said. Research and development of uranium enrichment technology at the project’s Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility will remain funded and received $50 million under the omnibus.
The source noted that DOE has indicated it will deploy the centrifuge technology again in the future, but that it will cost several billion dollars more to do so. Disbanding the program and its employees, “essentially the nation’s only workforce that understands how to operate this technology,” would be difficult to “put back together when you decide that you want to deploy it again,” the source said.
An aide to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said the lawmaker “remains concerned that the future costs to restart this program at ACP could be significantly higher than simply continuing operations at the plant.”
“Senator Brown also believes the ACP is critical to our national security,” the aide said, adding that “Brown will continue to press the Administration to give federal support to ACP and honor its commitment to the community.”
Responding to questions about the situation, a DOE spokesperson said, “We will honor our obligations to ensure public safety is maintained and items of national security interest are properly protected.”
