Sens. Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul and Rep. Ed Whitfield, all Kentucky Republicans, recently met with the Energy Department’s top officials to discuss the future of a uranium enrichment facility located in Kentucky.
Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman sat down with McConnell, Paul and Whitfield on Tuesday to elaborate on the department’s recent announcement not to extend the Paducah facility’s operation.
The plant, which opened in 1952, employs approximately 1,200 people and produces low-enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants in the United States and around the world. It is the only U.S. owned uranium enrichment facility in the United States.
The Kentucky delegation said it encouraged the importance of DOE’s commitment to the cleanup and utilization of the tails and other assets located in Paducah to secure a long-term future for the site.
“The Department of Energy must act quickly to maximize long term job retention and job growth in Paducah, and we will continue to do all we can to ensure that happens,” McConnell, Paul and Whitfield said in a joint statement. “It is critical for the DOE to act quickly to create stability and economic certainty for the people of Paducah by making a selection on an expression of interest as well as fulfill their commitment to cleanup as soon as possible. There is significant private sector interest for utilizing the site’s assets in Paducah, so any plan by the DOE to ship the tails out of the area is unacceptable to us.”