From the AP, 7/31/05:

 

State plans radiation tests to determine stream safety

Feds say water isn't risky near closed uranium refinery

The Associated Press

 

PIKETON, Ohio - State officials will perform radiation tests of a stream near a former uranium enrichment plant to determine whether the water is safe.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050731/NEWS01/507310397/1056/rss02

 

From the 11/12/05 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

Piketon plant jobs protected

Staff, wire reports

 

PIKETON - A bill passed in the U.S. House this week protected 261 jobs at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant.

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051112/NEWS01/511120322/1002/NEWS17

 

From the 11/18/05 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

Steelworkers boost efforts to save jobs

Piketon plant set to lay off 70

By KATE GIAMMARISE

Gazette Staff Writer

 

PIKETON - The United Steelworkers is stepping up efforts to protect as many as 70 jobs at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant.

 

U.S. Enrichment Corp. has proposed laying off the 70 employees, 50 salaried and 20 hourly, "give or take one or two," said Jack Williams, public affairs manager for USEC.

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051118/NEWS01/511180303/1002/NEWS17

 

From the 1/5/06 Portsmouth Daily Times:

 

 

USEC layoffs not as severe as first thought

By JEFF BARRON

PDT Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 4, 2006 11:09 PM EST

 

An belated Christmas present came to about 50 workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon who were scheduled to lose their jobs.

 

Thanks to the U.S. Department of Energy's decision to expand cleanup work at the plant, the workers have been reassigned to those duties and will continue their employment.

 

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2006/01/05/news/front_page/4news_usec.txt

 

A related article on the topic...

 

Piketon on list for nuclear-recycling plant

BY MALIA RULON | ENQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU

November 30, 2006

 

WASHINGTON - The designation means each site, including the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Ky., will receive part of $16 million in grants the U.S. government has set aside to study site feasibility.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061130/NEWS01/611300374/1056/COL02

From the 3/14/07 West Union Peoples' Defender:

 

 

DOE hosts public meeting for proposed Piketon nuclear plant

Brown News Service

 

PIKETON - Three groups of people were present at a U.S. Department of Energy meeting Thursday night: Those who support the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership; those who are against it; and those who are torn and want more information.

 

http://www.peoplesdefender.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=83&ArticleID=124858&TM=45833.36

 

From the 4/3/07 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

GNEP comment period extended

By ASHLEY LYKINS

Gazette Staff Writer

 

PIKETON -For a few months longer, residents will get to have their voices and opinions regarding the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership heard and put on the record.

 

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday that comments for GNEP's Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement will now be accepted until June 4 rather than the originally scheduled April 4.

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/NEWS01/704030301/1002/rss01

 

From the 4/8/07 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

Piketon plant study topic for meetings

Portsmouth and Chillicothe to host public meetings

The Gazette Staff

 

Two public meetings will take place next week for residents both to learn about the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership and ask questions of the group striving to bring it here.

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070408/NEWS01/704080307/1002/rss01

 

From the 4/14/07 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

Piketon plant gets license

Local man unsuccessfully opposed permit

By ASHLEY LYKINS

Gazette Staff Writer

 

PIKETON -USEC Inc. received a license Friday to commercially enrich uranium, and with it, a hope that the Piketon plant will be able to provide more jobs.

 

The enrichment plant that used to operate on the Department of Energy reservation was closed years ago, said Elizabeth Stuckle, spokeswoman for USEC. Since then, the company has been doing Energy Department contract work.

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070414/NEWS01/704140303/1002/rss01

 

From the 4/29/07 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

Report condemns nuke project

Local group maintains its safety, begins support campaign

By ASHLEY LYKINS

Gazette Staff Writer

 

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership is toyed with "fast and loose" by the White House, according to a group that released a report last week.

 

The partnership proposes recycling used nuclear fuel through new facilities, which could go to Piketon. A press release from Friends of the Earth, who collaborated with Institute for Policy Studies senior scholar Robert Alvarez on a report, call the plan "shoddy."

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070429/NEWS01/704290304/1002/rss01

 

From the 5/15/07 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

Famous activist Brockovich signs petition against GNEP in Piketon

By ASHLEY LYKINS

Gazette Staff Writer

 

PIKETON -While the Southern Ohio Neighbors Group usually only allows residents in and around southern Ohio to sign its petition to prevent a nuclear facility from being built in Pike County, it made an notable exception last week.

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS01/705150301/1002/rss01

 

From the 5/20/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Piketon hoping for nuclear-recycling facility

Ohio politicians hop on board local effort

Sunday,  May 20, 2007 3:44 AM

By Jonathan Riskind and Randy Ludlow

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Gov. Ted Strickland and a bipartisan group of U.S. House members are voicing support for placing a multibillion-dollar nuclear-waste recycling project at the former uranium-enrichment plant in southern Ohio.

 

However, although Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich likes the idea of new jobs for the economically starved area, he is far from convinced this proposal is a good idea. Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown falls somewhere in between.

 

http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/20/yesnuke.ART_ART_05-20-07_B5_QS6P66U.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 5/29/07 Athens News:

 

 

Meeting on nuke waste storage plan threatens to melt down

By Mike Ludwig

Athens NEWS Campus Reporter

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

 

Over 50 local residents and activists grilled a member of the nuclear-energy industry Thursday night in Athens over a controversial proposal to reuse spent nuclear fuel rods at the former uranium enrichment site in Piketon, Ohio.

 

http://athensnews.com/index.php?action=viewarticle&section=news&story_id=28374

 

From the 5/30/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Government's uranium sought for plant

Company says $750 million stockpile will help save plans; lawmakers have doubts

Wednesday,  May 30, 2007 3:34 AM

By Jonathan Riskind

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

WASHINGTON -- Getting a government stockpile of at least $750 million worth of depleted uranium could help keep plans for a uranium-enrichment plant in southern Ohio on track, the company building the facility says.

 

But some key members of Congress seem skeptical about USEC Inc.'s pitch.

 

USEC says it soon will begin construction of a $2.3 billion plant in Piketon that employs new technology on the same site as a closed facility that for decades churned out the enriched uranium that fuels nuclear power plants.

 

http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/30/urplant.ART_ART_05-30-07_B3_A46S1PO.html

 

From the 6/16/07 Portsmouth Daily Times:

 

 

CAO chief talks of USEC's woes

By JEFF BARRON

PDT Staff Writer

Saturday, June 16, 2007 11:54 PM EDT

 

Scioto County Community Action Director Bob Walton said the United States Enrichment Corp's. plan to open a commercial uranium enrichment plant in Piketon could be in jeopardy if it does not find an investor by 2008.

 

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2007/06/17/news/local_news/1news_usecwoes.txt

 

From the 7/1/07 Chillicothe Gazette:

 

 

Activist : A nuclear facility doesn’t always mean jobs for community

Lois Gibbs visits Pike County

By ASHLEY LYKINS

Gazette Staff Writer

 

PIKETON — “Nuclear” isn’t synonymous with “jobs,” said one activist in Pike County Saturday night.

 

A handful of people, including noted author and activist Lois Gibbs, gathered for an intimate town meeting with speakers who touched on topics ranging from the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership to newly discovered earthworks near the Department of Energy reservation.

 

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070701/NEWS01/70701004/1002/rss01

 

Energy company develops centrifuge plant in Piketon

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

PIKETON, Ohio - The nation's only company that enriches uranium for nuclear power plants said Friday that it has begun testing a key process at its demonstration facility in southern Ohio.

 

USEC Inc., based in Bethesda, Md., is developing the American Centrifuge Plant to enrich uranium using centrifugal force, considered to be much more efficient than the 1950s-developed gaseous diffusion method.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070916/BIZ01/709160355/1076/BIZ

Funds increased for plant cleanup

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, February 10, 2008

 

The proposed federal budget for fiscal 2009 calls for cuts of $147 million in the fund set aside for clean-up work at nuclear plants at Portsmouth, Paducah, Ky., and Oak Ridge, Tenn., but the reduction would affect only the Oak Ridge plant.

USEC updates public on centrifuge plant's status

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times. February 21, 2008

 

PIKETON - USEC Inc., a global energy company, continues well on its way in the development of the American Centrifuge plant here.

 

Company officials toured the facility Thursday and then had an informational meeting to update the public in the afternoon at The Ohio State University South Centers off Shyville Road near Piketon.

USEC increases estimated cost of uranium enrichment plant

Chillicothe Gazette, February 27, 2008

 

PIKETON - The company building a proposed uranium-enrichment plant in southern Ohio said the project's cost has jumped to $3.5 billion, more than double the original estimate.

Centrifuge plant on track for completion

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, April 18, 2008

 

The American Centrifuge Plant under construction at the Piketon atomic plant site remains on track, according to a progress report released Thursday, by USEC Inc.

New Piketon plant set to begin

By G. Sam Piatt, The Portsmouth Daily Times, May 30, 2008

 

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled to take place Tuesday, for a new plant that will convert into uranium oxide the depleted uranium generated during enrichment activities dating back to the 1950s at Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.

Uranium conversion plant has ribbon-cutting ceremony

Facility won't go into operation until late 2009

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, June 4, 2008

 

PIKETON - On the grounds of the atomic plant here, there are 21,000 steel cylinders containing 250,000 metric tons of depleted uranium.

 

It was produced during uranium enrichment operations that began more than half a century ago at Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

USEC net income of $8.4 million for third quarter

By Frank Lewis, Portsmouth Daily Times, November 6, 2008

 

In announcing their financial report, USEC president and chief executive officer John K. Welch is showing confidence in his company's current operations.

 

"We continue to execute our business plan for efficient operations at the Paducah plant as we deploy our next-generation uranium enrichment technology at Piketon," Welch said. "The market for our enrichment product remains strong with improving prices, and we like the prospects for growth in our industry."

NRC To Discuss Possible Enrichment Plant Violation

By Wayne Allen, Portsmouth Daily Times, January 23, 2009

 

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is scheduled to hold a “predecisional conference” on Thursday, Jan. 29 in Atlanta, Ga., the location of the NRC’s regional office. The conference is being held with the United States Enrichment Corporation regarding the gaseous diffusion plant it operates in Piketon.

This is good news. If there is one region of Ohio that badly needs jobs, the Portsmouth-Waverly region really needs this. Most of the heavy industry has long left, and Scioto County's unemployment rate stubbornly remains one of the highest in the state -- although neighbouring Lawrence County fares much better. Since the Gasseous Diffusion Plant is long-gone -- and gone with that are the hundreds of very high paying jobs, the start up of the American Centrifuge facility is a big boon for this area.

 

Ohio uranium plant has $3.3B in commitments

USA Today, March 27, 2009

 

PIKETON, Ohio - The nation's only provider of enriched uranium for nuclear power plants says it has customer commitments worth $3.3 billion to buy most of its initial production at a planned centrifuge plant in southern Ohio.

 

USEC Inc., based in Bethesda, Md., is developing the American Centrifuge project on the site of a former gaseous diffusion plant in Piketon, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati.

 

The plant will use centrifuge technology to produce enriched uranium to generate electricity at nuclear power plants. The commitments from 10 customers include leading utilities in the United States, Europe and Asia.

 

USEC has invested more than $1.2 billion in the plant, which the company expects to begin operating late this year.

Centrifuge Has $3 Billion In Sales Commitments

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, March 29, 2009

 

The American Centrifuge Plant, under construction by USEC Inc. at Piketon, has more than $3 billion in commitments from customers for the nuclear fuel it will produce, company officials say.

Another article posted above.

 

$118 Million For Piketon Cleanup

Portsmouth Daily Times, April 1, 2009

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on Tuesday announced that the Piketon Uranium Enrichment Plant north of Portsmouth will receive $118 million in funds from the economic recovery legislation to accelerate environmental cleanup work.

Piketon nuke-plant effort begins

Governor, others announce plan for mammoth project

Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 1:10 PM

By Mark Niquette, The Columbus Dispatch

 

PIKETON, Ohio -- Ohio's top political leaders and energy company executives made it official this morning: A new nuclear power plant costing $10 billion or more is being considered for southern Ohio.

 

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/06/18/nuke19.html?sid=101

USEC will have convenient access to the nuclear power plant, which would be practically next door!

Strickland details plans for nuclear plant

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/06/15/daily54.html

 

Duke Energy Corp.'s proposed nuclear power station in Piketon likely won’t start operating for years, but government officials and energy industry executives are saying it is time to start considering its construction.

Loan rejection crushes Piketon

Cleanup money will add some jobs

Wednesday,  July 29, 2009

By Jonathan Riskind, The Columbus Dispatch

 

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Energy offered hundreds of new nuclear-site cleanup jobs to southern Ohio workers yesterday, along with a second chance for USEC to win a $2 billion federal loan guarantee for a proposed uranium-enrichment plant in Piketon.  The disclosures came after department officials first rejected the loan application, saying the plant project isn't yet technically or financially ready.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/29/Piketon29.ART_ART_07-29-09_A1_VBEK453.html

USEC: It's guarantee or nothing

Company won't put off Piketon project for research money

Thursday,  July 30, 2009 - 8:09 AM

By Jonathan Riskind and Mark Niquette

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama was asked yesterday to reconsider the U.S. Energy Department's decision not to grant USEC a $2 billion loan guarantee for the company's planned uranium-enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio.

 

http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/30/usecletter.ART_ART_07-30-09_B1_RNEKEGO.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

USEC project in Piketon gets reprieve

Business First of Columbus

Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 1:45pm EDT

 

The federal government is giving the developers of a uranium enrichment plant in Piketon a new window of opportunity for a crucial $2 billion loan guarantee after initially giving a thumbs-down to the financing.

 

http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/08/03/daily22.html?surround=lfn

More Time For Pike Centrifuge Project

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, August 6, 2009

 

The U.S. Department of Energy and USEC Inc. said Wednesday they’ve reached an agreement to delay a final review on the company’s loan guarantee application for the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon.

Federal Recovery Funds Bring Jobs To A-Plant Site

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, November 10, 2009

 

PIKETON — Ray Spradlin will be quick to tell you that the federal government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is the greatest program to come down the pike ever in regards to helping jump-start the local economy and provide much-needed jobs in the Portsmouth area.

 

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which terminated nuclear enrichment in 2001 after nearly 50 years of operation, earlier this year was allocated $118.2 million under the act to hire workers for the monumental task of cleanup at the site.

AREVA’s DOE Contract May Be In Jeopardy: Rep. Schmidt Complains of Company’s Ties to Sudan

By Frank Lewis, Portsmouth Daily Times, December 26, 2009

 

AREVA, a partner in a consortium planning to build a nuclear plant at Piketon, may be the center of an investigation as to whether or not they qualify for U.S. government support for a loan guarantee to build a plant in Idaho, in competition with USEC.

 

Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Miami Township (2nd District in Ohio) acknowledged Wednesday that it was her initial complaint to the Department of Energy’s Inspector General that has led the Inspector General’s office to find cause to investigate whether the DOE is in compliance with the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007.

Less than a year into her term, the mayor has single-handily fired much of her team that got the job done, removed traffic signals around the city without ODOT authorization, and now doesn't want to support hundreds of high-paying jobs. Recall her!

 

Murray Votes No On Piketon Plant Resolution

by Frank Lewis, Portsmouth Daily Times, February 27, 2010

 

Portsmouth Mayor Jane Murray was the only member of the executive committee of the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission present at Thursday’s meeting who voted against a resolution supporting the current and proposed projects at the Piketon USEC site, projected to create and maintain thousands of jobs.

 

“We don’t do a roll call, but I know as far as the board members that were there, there was one ‘nay’, and I know who the ‘nay’ was,” OVRDC Executive Director John Hemmings told the Portsmouth Daily Times. “It was the Mayor of Portsmouth.”

^ Jesus, more out-of-hand Portsmouth politics.

Looks like the Mayor apologized for her vote, and for some of her more rancid behavior as of late. It's a real mess down there.

I think there's only a few people in Portsmouth that know how to handle money/business -- a few of the prominent local businesspeople, the landlords and some Shawnee State professors .

First $2 Billion Loan Goes to AREVA: USEC Remains Hopeful

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, May 22, 2010

 

USEC Inc. has missed out on the U.S. Department of Energy’s first $2 billion loan guarantee to help finance uranium enrichment plants, but remains hopeful a similar loan will be available for its American Centrifuge Plant under construction at Piketon.

 

The DOE Thursday awarded $2 billion in support to a similar project in Idaho, where French nuclear power developer AREVA plans to build a $3.3 billion plant in Idaho Falls.

Two Companies Demonstrate Confidence In USEC’s ACP

By G. Sam Piatt, Portsmouth Daily Times, May 28, 2010

 

USEC Inc. has not yet received any assurance from the federal government that it will get the $200 billion loan guarantee needed to help finance its American Centrifuge Plant at Piketon, but it is getting two-tenths of one billion dollars from two companies who have confidence in the project.

 

Babcock & Wilcox and Toshiba announced this week they will each invest $100 million in the ACP being built at the Piketon site of the old Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

 

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland welcomed the announcement of the $200 million investment and partnership in the uranium enrichment plant as one step closer to seeing the USEC project become a reality.

Centrifuge Project in Piketon

No word on nuke-plant loan; investors hang on

By Jessica Wehrman, The Columbus Dispatch

Monday August 15, 2011 - 10:37 AM

 

WASHINGTON — In a state struggling for jobs, it sounds almost too good to be true: A Maryland-based company hopes to transform an abandoned Department of Energy site in southern Ohio into an economic engine that would create 4,000 jobs and provide nuclear fuel for the world.

 

But more than two years after the Department of Energy first rejected a loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge Project and project organizers went back to the drawing board, the long-awaited project — mentioned in presidential campaigns and touted by Ohio’s two senators and the region’s congressional delegation — remains more promise than reality.

 

If completed, the new facility at the site of the old Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, would bolster a hardscrabble region that traditionally suffers the highest unemployment in the state.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/15/no-word-on-nuke-plant-loan-investors-hang-on.html

The ongoing dream of a fully functional "A-Plant" continues to elude Southern Ohio.

Obama includes funding for Piketon plant in 2013 budget

By Jessica Wehrman and Jack Torry, The Columbus Dispatch

Monday, February 13, 2012 - 2:20 PM

 

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama included $150 million for research and development at a proposed uranium enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio in his fiscal year 2013 budget today.  The move would keep the increasingly controversial project alive and, presumably, a political football heading into the 2012 elections.

 

Ohio lawmakers praised the inclusion of money for the long-struggling and controversial American Centrifuge Project.  USEC, the Maryland-based company that wants to launch the project in Ohio, has tried for more than three years to get a $2 billion federal loan guarantee to commercialize the project to no avail.  Supporters hope the $150 million will kick-start technological developments at the plant.

 

News wasn’t all great for the Portsmouth region, however: The budget also included a 25 percent reduction in federal funds for cleanup to the adjacent Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.  The cleanup is being handled by two companies – Babcock & Wilcox and Fluor Corp. – and is not directly affiliated with the uranium enrichment project’s fate.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/13/federal-budget-ohio-impact.html

Nuclear centrifuge project to move ahead

 

WASHINGTON (USA TODAY) — A giant nuclear centrifuge project in southern Ohio will move forward despite a setback in Congress this week, uranium enrichment company USEC said Friday.

 

Congress' failure to act on a long-term transportation bill means that a $106 million research and development grant for the American Centrifuge Project remains in limbo. That provision was included in the Senate version, but it faces some resistance in the House, which has stricter rules on "earmarks."

 

The grant is a stopgap measure while the company seeks $2 billion in Department of Energy loan guarantees to expand the project, which it says will support 2,000 jobs in Ohio and a half-dozen other states.

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20130202/NEWS01/302020018/1002/rss01

Fate of Piketon plant murky

Shifts in federal energy policy could cut funds to ACP

 

WASHINGTON — As the 113th Congress gets under way and President Barack Obama begins a second term, some possible shifts in federal energy policy could ripple down to affect the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon.

 

For starters, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Friday that he was stepping down. And there have been rumors that some of his deputies, who have championed USEC’s project, also might be leaving the Department of Energy. At the same time, the president has emphasized in his new term a desire to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, which boosters of nuclear power say could be a boon to uranium-enrichment initiatives such as the one in Piketon.

 

But those big-picture changes will not be make-or-break for USEC.