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Federal Money Averts Layoffs for Ohio Uranium Plant Cleanup
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The latest federal appropriations for cleanup work at a Cold War-era uranium plant in southern Ohio are expected to again avert a mass layoff at the site.
That’s welcome news for the roughly 1,900 people who work on decontaminating and decommissioning the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon. They’ve been warned about the possibility of hundreds of layoffs periodically over the past two years as they repeatedly waited on last-minute approval of funding.
The site project director says the bill signed Friday by President Barack Obama should provide enough money to maintain the current level of cleanup work.
The bill also allots nearly $22 million toward creating an on-site waste disposal facility. That’s less than project officials hoped for but enough to design the facility and start preparing the site.