NRC To Meet With USEC Officials January 3 To Discuss Planned Portsmouth Plant Closure

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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532

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No. III-00-71

December 28, 2000

CONTACT:

Jan Strasma (630)829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov Pam Alloway-Mueller (630)829-9662/e-mail: pla@nrc.gov

NRC TO MEET WITH USEC OFFICIALS JANUARY 3 TO DISCUSS PLANNED PORTSMOUTH PLANT CLOSURE

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet with U.S. Enrichment Corporation officials January 3 in Piketon, Ohio, to discuss the status of the company's plans for shutting down uranium enrichment activities at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant by June 2001.

NRC and company officials have been meeting periodically to discuss the projected closure.

The meeting will be at 2 p.m. EST at the plant's XT-801 South Office Building in room 123. The plant is located at 3930 U.S. Route 23 in Piketon. The meeting is open for public observation, although participation is limited to the NRC and USEC management personnel. NRC staff members will be available after the meeting to answer questions from the public.

USEC announced in June that production would continue at both the Portsmouth plant and the Paducah, Kentucky, Gaseous Diffusion Plant until June 2001. By that date, USEC anticipates it will cease enrichment operations at the Portsmouth plant, after having upgraded the Paducah plant to produce enriched uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants. The NRC staff currently is reviewing the proposed Paducah upgrade.

NRC staff, including the resident inspectors at the Portsmouth plant, will continue to monitor plant safety activities until regulatory oversight is transferred from the NRC to the Department of Energy. USEC officials have said they anticipated that transfer would occur by June 2002. USEC would continue to operate the Portsmouth product transfer facility over the next four or five years until a product transfer facility would become available at Paducah.

Directions to the plant:

From the north: Take 23 south to 32 east. Travel about two miles to Shyville Road. Turn south (right) on Shyville and travel to Perimeter Road which surrounds the plant (about two miles). Turn left onto Perimeter Road. Do NOT take the exit ramp to the Administration Building. Continue south to the second right, turn right on Hewes Street. The XT-801 building is the first building on the left. Please enter at the south door.

From the south: Take 23 north to the Wakefield exit. Turn right next to the abandoned rest stop. Take the second road to the right (Big Run Road). Travel until it ends at Perimeter Road which surrounds the plant (about two miles). Turn right onto Perimeter Road, and take the first left (Hewes Street). The XT-801 building is the first building on the left. Please enter at the south door.