Brian Bradley
WC Monitor
10/16/2015
If the American Centrifuge Plant is shut down in line with Energy Department plans, the city of Portsmouth, Ohio, would lose $40,000 in annual revenue, and if Portsmouth Site decontamination and decommissioning work does not move forward, the city would lose $100,000 in yearly income tax, Portsmouth City Auditor M. Trent Williams and officials from the city’s income tax department said during the Oct. 12 Portsmouth City Council meeting, according to minutes from the session.
American Centrifuge contractor Centrus in September confirmed that DOE would no longer provide funding for the Piketon, Ohio, piece of the program, and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant D&D contractor Fluor-BWXT in August announced that an anticipated $81 million budget shortfall to fund the project in fiscal 2016 would force up to 500 layoffs.
Congress on Oct. 1 passed a continuing resolution that funds the federal government at fiscal 2015 levels through Dec. 11 and includes an anomaly to give DOE the flexibility through its Uranium Enrichment D&D Fund to prevent Portsmouth D&D layoffs. With regard to American Centrifuge, officials have said all operations will be limited to development activities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee at a cost of $35 million per year. Centrus employs about 300 technical and other staff in Piketon. American Centrifuge is an advanced uranium enrichment facility intended to produce low-enriched uranium.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said on Monday he is fighting to reverse the recent Energy Department funding decisions that led contractors to announce the layoffs. “The Department of Energy’s recent decisions about the ongoing projects in Piketon, both the D&D cleanup and American Centrifuge Project, have created uncertainty for our workers, our families, and our region,” he said in a prepared statement. “Since I took office, Congress has passed adequate funding to prevent any disruption to the work taking place. Despite these funding levels, the Department of Energy has decided on their own to stop or slow down the projects. I refuse to accept these decisions, and am actively working to reverse them.” Wenstrup added that last week, he met with community stakeholders, including the Pike and Scioto County Commissioners and United Steelworkers, and “demanded answers” from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on two separate phone calls, according to the statement.
