Centrus Begins Laying Off Workers at American Centrifuge Plant in Ohio

In a move industry watchers have awaited since September, Centrus Energy Corp., of Bethesda, Md., said Friday it will during the week of Feb. 29 lay off some 60 employees at the experimental American Centrifuge Plant at the Energy Department in Piketon, Ohio. The demonstration cascade at the site is being demobilized, and Centrus indicated additional layoffs are coming.

Decontamination and decommissioning of the facility, which was developing new domestic uranium-enrichment technology intended to make fuel for commercial power plants, will begin “in the coming weeks,” Centrus said in a press release.

Centrus will “maintain its core technical capabilities and preserve its ability to support future nuclear projects” at Piketon and “maintain its construction and operating license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a commercial plant to preserve options for the future use of the facility,” according to the release.

DOE announced in September it would pull the plug on the centrifuge facility, and Centrus has been paying out of its own pocket since October to keep the plant online. In the 2016 omnibus spending signed in December, Congress gave DOE the option to divert $50 million from other agency programs to the centrifuge; DOE chose not to. Likewise, the White House request no funding for the centrifuge project in the fiscal 2017 budget proposal delivered to Congress on Feb. 9.

“This is a painful day for our employees, families, friends, and colleagues, but all should be proud of the great work of our Piketon team,” Daniel Poneman, Centrus president and CEO, said in a statement. “We will do all that we can to facilitate their transition to new opportunities.”

Centrus has about 300 employees at Piketon. The press release characterized the upcoming layoffs as the “first stage of workforce reductions.”  The company also conducts DOE-funded uranium-enrichment centrifuge research and testing at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which continues.