DOE to build a $35.6 million complex

PORTSMOUTH — Uranium Disposition Services, LLC, (UDS) has been contracted by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) to disposition the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6 ) that has been stored at three sites: Paducah, Kentucky; Portsmouth, Ohio; and the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. DUF6 is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process used to make uranium suitable for use as fuel for nuclear reactors or in national security applications.

The primary objectives of the UDS DUF6 Conversion Project are to design, construct, and operate conversion facilities on DOE property at the Portsmouth and Paducah sites. These facilities will convert the DOE inventory of DUF6 now located at the Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants, and the ETTP, to a stable chemical form acceptable for beneficial use/reuse and/or disposal. In addition, UDS will provide surveillance and maintenance of the DOE inventory of cylinders containing DUF6, low-enriched uranium hexafluoride, and natural assay uranium hexafluoride.

Over fifty years of Gaseous Diffusion Plant operations have resulted in nearly 700,000 metric tons of DUF6 in storage at the Oak Ridge, Paducah, Portsmouth sites.

Press Release 5/26/06 (The Open Line Portsmouth Daily News)