Paducah uranium plant to close at month's end; 1,100 jobs lostWASHINGTON — The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Western Kentucky, which for six decades has enriched uranium for nuclear power plants, is shutting down at the end of the month — and taking with it up to 1,100 jobs, officials announced Friday.
State and local efforts to save the McCracken County facility failed to secure an extension, after getting a one-year reprieve last year.
The Department of Energy “has concluded that there were not sufficient benefits to the taxpayers to extend enrichment,” said Robert Van Namen, senior vice president and chief operating officer of USEC Inc., which operates the plant. “I am extremely disappointed to say we must now begin to take steps to cease enrichment.”
The company said it expects to retain some workers to assist in turning the plant back over to the U.S. government, but the work force would be reduced “in the coming months.”
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130524/NEWS01/305240064/Paducah-uranium-plant-close-month-s-end?nclick_check=1&goback=%2Egde_2530360_member_244723506
