Cleanup may be in jeopardy

WASHINGTON — The spending bill that Congress will vote on this week includes $274 million to clean up an abandoned nuclear site in southern Ohio, but an Ohio senator is concerned that the longterm prospects for cleaning up that plant might be in danger.

The former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, placed in cold shutdown in 2010, is being cleaned up and redeveloped for future use, but it’s slow going: According to Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s office, the current cleanup efforts will be finished by 2044, though portions of the site can be turned over earlier than that.

Funding in recent years has been through a combination of federal dollars and the sale of uranium. But Portman’s office received a surprise last week when they learned the Trump administration planned to reduce the amount of uranium that the decommissioned nuclear site could sell.

The reduction — meant to protect the flagging price of uranium — would reduce the dollars that can be used to clean up the site, which is near Piketon.

But the timing was particularly worrisome: The Trump administration announced its plan to reduce the amount that could be bartered around 3 p.m. Friday — after congressional negotiators had finalized their federal spending bill.

The Ohio Republican, however, called Energy Secretary Rick Perry to complain, saying the Energy Department should’ve alerted lawmakers that they were planning to reduce the uranium sale, “jeopardizing our ability to protect the workforce at Portsmouth,” Portman said.

The Trump administration has not yet released its full budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in October. Portman said he has urged Perry to request additional funds.

“This plant has already faced so much uncertainty over the past several years, and I’m concerned this decision by the Trump administration and Secretary Perry will leave us with a bigger gap to make up in next year’s appropriation process,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “We need these jobs in southeast Ohio, and DOE must work with us so cleanup can continue in the future.”

The $274 million is part of a $1 trillion spending bill paying for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.