The company running the nation's uranium enrichment plants in Paducah and in Piketon, Ohio, said yesterday that a credit downgrade is forcing its board to consider closing one facility. That could mean the loss of hundreds of high-paying industrial jobs in far Western Kentucky at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant or at its sister plant in Ohio. U.S. Enrichment disclosed its intentions Friday in a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department that was released yesterday by members of Congress. The news heightened fears in Paducah about job losses. We are being sacrificed to a lot of money.
Workers are the only losers in the grand scheme.
U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Ohio, whose district includes the Piketon plant, said yesterday that he would seek an injunction to prevent the closing of either plant. U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, whose district includes the Paducah plant, is looking at whether to join efforts to obtain the injunction, his spokesman, Anthony Hulen, said. The stock of financially struggling U.S. Enrichment has been battered by high production costs, a worldwide uranium glut and the expense of having to buy millions of dollars worth of enriched uranium from Russia. We are hearing things all over the board. We're preparing both ways and have been developing a leadership strategy for months.