Ohio uranium plant developer: Layoffs possible

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The developer of a uranium enrichment project in southern Ohio said Friday it is suspending contracts with some suppliers and notifying about 450 workers in Ohio, Tennessee and Maryland that they might be laid off if uncertainty about funding means it has to stop most activity on the project.

Bethesda, Md.-based developer USEC Inc. has had trouble securing a $2 billion federal loan guarantee it says is needed for construction to move forward on the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, about 65 miles south of Columbus, and it’s taking the first steps toward possibly demobilizing the project.

It plans to mail notices about possible layoffs to more than 200 American Centrifuge workers each in Ohio and Tennessee and a handful more at its headquarters, USEC spokesman Paul Jacobson said. The company said that it is reducing its spending on the project by about 30 percent during October, and that layoffs and further reductions are likely if it doesn’t have the loan guarantee by November.

“We want to get this done,” Jacobson said. “We think it’s the right thing to do, but we can’t go on spending at the current rate indefinitely. We have to be respectful of managing the company’s resources.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has urged President Barack Obama to include support for the project in his job creation plan, saying several thousand jobs directly or indirectly linked to the project were at risk.

Kasich told reporters on Friday that he had spoken with USEC on Thursday night and said he planned to write a second letter to Obama about approval for the federal loan.

“What happened today is the company’s basically saying, ‘We need to know,”’ Kasich said. “It would be tragic if we lost this because it is absolutely the right thing for the country and it is obviously the right thing for Ohio.”