Energy Secretary Rick Perry has postponed his scheduled Monday visit to the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said Saturday.
“While I’m disappointed that Secretary Perry cannot make it to Piketon on Monday I’m pleased he has indicated that he will reschedule the visit soon,” Portman said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to showcasing the important work being done there, their importance to the local economy, and the potential for economic development in the future. I’m also excited to show Secretary Perry the infrastructure in place at the American Centrifuge Project plant should the Administration restart a domestic uranium enrichment program.”
Portman had announced the visit July 21. Perry announced the trip, and media availability, Thursday. The DOE chief planned to tour the former uranium enrichment facilities along with Portman and Reps. U.S. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Bill Johnson (R-Ohio).
Cleanup of the shuttered enriched uranium production plant in Pike County has regularly faced budget challenges, partly due to a unique system in which roughly one-third of its funding is provided by reselling government uranium that DOE barters to site contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth.
The Portsmouth Site is also home to the primary American Centrifuge facility, an industrial-scale demonstration of advanced uranium enrichment technology that Centrus Energy closed in 2016 after Energy Department funding dried up. The plant is now being decommissioned, with closeout anticipated in early 2018.
