DOE says DUF6 plants back in full operation

For the first time in a while, the Department of Energy and its contractor have reached full operation of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Facilities in Ohio and Kentucky, the agency said Tuesday.

The Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio recently completed a planned maintenance outage, during which plant upgrades were made, including upgraded control systems to improve plant reliability, DOE said in a news release. Also, new flowmeters were put in to improve accuracy of uranium hexafluoride flow rates.

The news release did not specify when the Portsmouth maintenance outage started or ended.

The Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) facilities at Paducah, Ky., had already undergone a major upgrade, which was announced by DOE in February 2022. The DUF6 plants are managed for DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office by Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services.

The Paducah Site in Kentucky recently beat a project record by running all four conversion lines for 41 straight days, DOE said in the release. 

“This is an exciting time for us at DUF6,” said Dutch Conrad, project manager for Mid-America Conversion Services, the DUF6 operations and maintenance contractor

Mid-America, which also includes Westinghouse and Fluor, has held the $858-million DUF6 conversion contract since November 2016. 

Earlier this year, the deal was extended, potentially through September 2025. DOE has been considering contract proposals for operations work at Portsmouth and Paducah, which would incorporate the DUF6 work.

The DUF6 facilities convert the byproduct from decades of uranium enrichment into depleted uranium oxide and aqueous hydrofluoric acid, which are safer forms for reuse or disposal, DOE said.