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Uranium Site Cleanup May Lay Off Workers
By: Associated Press
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The contractor leading decontamination and decommissioning work at a Cold War-era uranium plant in southern Ohio anticipates up to 675 layoffs beginning in October because of problems related to funding for the project.
Fluor-B&W Portsmouth on Thursday notified employees and the state about the potential layoffs for workers cleaning up the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, roughly 60 miles south of Columbus. The plant produced enriched uranium until 2001.
About 1,900 people work on the cleanup project.
The contractor and the Department of Energy say hundreds of layoffs may be necessary because uranium transfers fund much of the project but uranium prices have dropped. They say the proposed federal budget appropriation for the fiscal year that starts in October wouldn't make up for that decrease.