Local 550 Begins First Radiological Control Technician Class
Twenty students are receiving RCT training so they can work at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site or at other Department of Energy facilities across the nation.
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.
Twenty students are receiving RCT training so they can work at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site or at other Department of Energy facilities across the nation.
Local 12-9477 is pushing for greater safety protections after two health and safety incidents in recent months at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, located east of Carlsbad, N.M.
The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management appointed Local 689 President Herman Potter to a two-year term on the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board.
President Joe Biden’s interim Build America, Buy America guidance will ensure that publicly funded infrastructure projects help to rebuild the nation’s manufacturing base, strengthen supply chains and support good-paying jobs for U.S. workers.
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.