Alone in the Car: Nuclear Energy and Jobs for Southern Ohio

I have been following a "developing" story for 3 years now involving a nuclear power site in Piketon, Ohio. Just this past week, more announcements were made by the major employer there, USEC. Please see the Columbus Dispatch article,"USEC prepares for possible layoffs": The company which wants to build a uranium enrichment plant in Piketon says it can't do so without a long awaited $2 billion federal loan guarantee". http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/09/30/USEC-layoffs.html

I have been following this story for personal as well as professional reasons. This story involves 2 other places--Idaho and their Idaho Nuclear Engineering Laboratory(INEL) and Paducah, Kentucky. My husband once worked for a contractor associated with Idaho and so I am familiar with it and my grandmother's family resides close to Paducah.

There are many jobs that rest on the judgement call of the U.S. Department of Energy. Currently there are 264 employees at the plant who report to USEC. If DOE approves a $2 billion dollar conditional loan guarantee commitment to USEC to build a uranium enrichment plant, then USEC would then need to hire 4,000 people. Obviously a true boon to the economy for Southern Ohio and good jobs too. If you read my Wednesday blog, this would mean 1 and only 1 job for families with no need for supplemental income sources.

Three years ago USEC applied for this loan guarantee along with INEL. After some time elapsed, Idaho got the contract in May, 2010. It will be at a location called Eagle Rock and will employ 1,000 people. See: http://energy.gov/articles/doe-offers-conditional-loan-guarantee-front-end-nuclear-facility-idaho. DOE then said it would re-consider USEC's application and could also approve its application.

USEC has an uranium enrichment plant in Paducah but feels it needs a plant that can be more efficient. Thus it has waited and waited for DOE to guarantee the loan. USEC has others who have planned all along to invest in the project if the federal government will back the project. They have waited for 3 years to hear from DOE. They can wait no longer. Thus USEC has announced layoffs beginning at the end of this month.

I feel part of the problem is Piketon itself. It has approximately 1900 people. Would more people be interested if the plant had a different location? Part 2--this story is about government energy strategy. Which means this also includes political strategy of the Administration and Congress.

Energy Strategy is "hot" right now (excuse the pun). But I will tell you what I am doing: watching how I run the dishwasher, going back to heating my water on the stove not in the microwave for tea, turning off lights and turning on candles, exercising at night in the winter, and wearing a hat inside the house. These are the things I can control, these are the things that are in my sphere of influence that will count towards my energy/utility bills. I urge you to find the little efforts in your daily living that will add up and make a difference that you can see for yourself.