Uranium enrichment began in the United States as part of the World War II Manhattan Project to produce nuclear weapons. The first uranium enrichment operations were set up at what is now the Oak Ridge Nat’l. Laboratory (Tennessee) in 1942. In the 1950’s the U.S. government set up two additional enrichment plants, in Paducah in 1952 and in Piketon, Ohio.
The major technology used at Oak Ridge for the weapons program was gaseous diffusion. The Paducah and Piketon plants also were gaseous diffusion plants. USW and its predecessor unions have represented workers at all three sites from early on.
The two-day meeting, held Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, at USW’s Legislative and Policy office, attracted nearly 30 council members representing U.S. Department of Energy sites and two nuclear facilities.
The appropriations for the DOE sites are essential to keeping USW members working on environmental remediation, without fear of contractors laying them off for lack of government money.
Brouillette is well-versed with DOE operations and getting Congress to implement energy policy, having served as the agency’s assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs, from 2001 through 2003.
The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council—an umbrella group consisting of the USW and 13 metal trade unions—negotiated the extension to help provide a measure of security as the Department of Energy makes changes in 2020.
The Worker Health Protection Program (WHPP) is a program sponsored by the Dept. of Energy to detect and address health problems of DOE workers.
As of November 2012 Local unions at most USW nuclear sites in the United States are active in USW’s Atomic Energy Workers’ Council (AEWC). Several others are not involved currently.
Uranium enrichment began over 70 years ago in the United States and for most of those years the United Steelworkers and its predecessor unions have represented workers at American sites.
