U.

Tuesday, September 05, 2000

U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland will target reuse of Piketon’s uranium enrichment plant as one way to keep jobs in that area.

The effort also might pay employment dividends in Lawrence County, he said.

The Piketon Gaseous Diffusion Plant’s owner, the federal privatized U.S. Enrichment Corporation, announced the facility’s impending closure earlier this year, planning to lay off about 1,400 workers by June 2001.

"I think USEC wants to strip it, sell off everything and walk away, leaving devastation," Strickland said.

The congressman has not been kind with words about, or to, USEC officials. He also has sought legislation and state intervention to keep the plant operating.

"I’ll fight them with every tool I can use," he said.

Recently, during a technology conference in Ironton hosted by Strickland and Ohio University Southern Campus, participants heard from economic developers in a rural Washington community who turned an abandoned nuclear plant into a hi-tech industrial complex.

Dozens of technology-driven companies moved in to that complex, turning the suffering local economy around, Strickland said.

A similar situation could develop at Piketon, under the right circumstances, he said.

"We’re still concentrating on keeping the jobs there, but because the buildings are all good facilities, we’re not willing to let it sit for years," Strickland said.

The uranium plant contains hi-tech utilities, is well-suited for technological expansion and at least two buildings have been vacant since the 1980s, he said.

If the worst happens, the Piketon plant will close, and officials can target the plant for reuse, Strickland said.

The congressman already has spoken with the governor about such ideas, he said.

Opening several technology-driven industries there will have far-reaching effects on the economies of not only Piketon, but also communities up and down the Ohio River, including Ironton, he added.

Many issues need resolved before that happens, and staff continues to investigate what to do to keep jobs in Piketon now, Strickland said.

But it’s best to be prepared, he said.

"If we can get job creating industries there, I think we need to."

Strickland, who led Congressional inquiries into USEC’s financial troubles, took to the House floor earlier this year to accuse the company’s CEO, William H. Timbers, of misleading the nation.

Despite facing bankruptcy, the USEC had a binding agreement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to keep both plants open until at least 2005 unless a significant event happened, he said.

Many have joined the congressman in saying that event never occurred.

The company, a nuclear fuel supplier, said it can’t charge enough to cover the cost of two plants because the worldwide price of uranium has fallen.