Weskem Wins Contact at Uranium Enrichment Plant

Weskem has been awarded a $22 million contract to remove about 29,000 tons of scrap metal at the Paducah uranium enrichment plant during the next 4 and 1/2 years.

The contract is expected to begin the middle of this year.

Hourly jobs consist of heavy equipment operators, maintenance mechanics and operator-laborers, said Dan Watson, president of Weskem's Paducah operations. PACE members have preference for the work by seniority, but some employees could come from the community if union people are unavailable. Those jobs will be locally advertised, starting within 30 days, he said.

"We've hired quite a few people from the community in the last 12 to 18 months," he said. "We established 45 work force transition personnel in February 2000, and now that's up to about 125 with about half of those coming from the community."

Bechtel Jacobs, the lead environmental contractor, awarded the scrap metal contract, calling for Weskem to remove, characterize, sort and transport the material to an approved disposal site in Nevada.

Much of the metal, stored in scrap yards in the northwest fenced area of the plant, was removed in plant production upgrades many years ago, Watson said.

Removal of the scrap metal is the second phase of work to rid the Paducah plant of outdoor storage areas.

The contract does not include disposal of nickel ingots. Because the nickel has potentially high value, the ingots will remain stored until the Department of Energy can determine if they can be recycled, Cook said.

Weskem was formed in 1999 to do waste management and disposal work at Department of Energy plants here and in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Paducah (KY) Sun.