Layoffs at Piketon cleanup averted for now

PIKETON -- Planned layoffs at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant that had been scheduled to begin Oct. 22 have been averted, at least for now.

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the lead site contractor for the cleanup work, has received the guidance it had been awaiting from the Department of Energy as to whether to proceed with plans to begin layoffs of between 325 and 500 workers later this month. That plan, for which WARN notices had been sent to employees notifying them of the potential layoffs, was in limbo after Congress passed a continuing resolution extending funding at current levels through Dec. 11.

On Wednesday, Fluor-BWXT got the confirmation they were waiting for, which site project director Dennis Carr shared in a memo to employees along with a note of cautious optimism for the longer term.

"I am pleased to report that DOE has issued us revised funding direction which permits us to postpone any reductions in force until the final appropriations Bill is passed," he wrote. "At that time, it is my understanding DOE will evaluate the appropriations language and make a final decision on the funding for the project. Until that time, we must press forward with planning for reductions in force in the event the final appropriation for our project does not provide DOE the needed funds to avoid impacts to our project.

"We must all press forward on the project with guarded optimism and focus on safely advancing the project, especially on achieving our collective goal of attaining a Cold and Dark status in X-326 (building) by June of 2017."

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, who had a tense exchange with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this week over funding for both the cleanup work and the American Centrifuge project on the Piketon DOE site, also sounded a cautious tone after receiving the confirmation on the cleanup reprieve.

“I’m pleased that the administration will provide the necessary funding to avoid layoffs for D&D activities in Piketon, but this is only a temporary reprieve and Ohio will need the secretary’s help to secure the critical resources we will need for the remainder of the year," Portman said. "I pressed Energy Secretary Moniz on this yesterday and again requested a long-term plan for the site. I hope the administration can provide that to Piketon workers who continue to face the threat of layoffs due to no fault of their own.”

During Portman's exchange with Moniz during the committee meeting, the secretary sounded a dire note for the future of the American Centrifuge operations in Piketon. Workers there are facing layoffs beginning as early as mid-November after it was announced late last month that DOE was going to de-fund the PIketon operation and shift resources for continued development of the centrifuge technology to a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

There's been no indication as yet that funding appropriated in the continuing resolution that could be used to extend operations at the American Centrifuge would, in fact, be used by Moniz for that purpose.