PIKETON, Ohio — Top officials from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management toured the Portsmouth Site this week, pointing to more than $33 billion in investment they said is coming to transform the former uranium enrichment complex into an energy and industrial hub.
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Tim Walsh led the visit, which included stops at the ongoing demolition of the X-333 Process Building, the Centrus Energy Corp. American Centrifuge Plant and meetings with building trades unions and site workers, according to the Department of Energy.
“We met with building trades and United Steelworkers to talk about how we can continue to accelerate our cleanup mission here to make space for new economic opportunities built and operated by American union labor,” Walsh said in a statement. “More than $33 billion of investment is coming to this site to create the Portsmouth American Energy Hub. Both the local community and the building trades are excited about what is coming here and the tremendous possibilities for the future.”
The 3,400-acre site in Pike County is being cleared of Cold War-era uranium enrichment facilities and contaminated soil and groundwater as part of a yearslong federal cleanup, the department said. EM officials have said the work is a prerequisite for reusing the property for new energy and industrial projects.
Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Portsmouth Site Representative Jody Crabtree said the trades had worked to build trust with the community as the cleanup progressed.
“A cleanup of this scale only works when the community, the trades and leadership are on the same page,” Crabtree said in a statement. “We put in the work early to listen to our community’s concerns and show that this site had a future. Seeing new energy and industrial projects taking root today proves that when you earn that local trust, big things can happen for our families and our region.”
During the stop at the Centrus Energy plant, EM leaders highlighted plans to expand domestic uranium enrichment at the site, which the department said would preserve the region’s nuclear expertise and create long-term technical jobs. United Steelworkers Local 689 President Andria Tipton said the investment builds on decades of experience among the site’s workforce.
“Our workforce has generations of hands-on experience, and Centrus is showing that companies want that talent here,” Tipton said in a statement. “It keeps good, high-paying jobs right here at home for our families as the site transitions from cleanup to new energy projects.”
The visit comes weeks after demolition crews at the site completed training on new equipment for tearing down the X-333 Process Building, part of a broader effort to position Piketon as the center of a new energy megasite.
As part of the same regional trip, EM leadership also visited the Portsmouth Paducah Project Office in Lexington, Kentucky, the Office of Legacy Management’s Fernald Preserve in southwestern Ohio, and the EM Consolidated Business Center in Cincinnati, according to the department.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.
