Funding for Nuclear Projects a Highlight of Fall AEWC Meeting
The Atomic Energy Workers Council meeting held Sept. 19-20 in Washington, D.C. Click to read highlights from that meeting...
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 Atomic Energy Workers Council meeting held Sept. 19-20 in Washington, D.C. Click to read highlights from that meeting...
Click to listen to the full interview...
Local 652 members did the overhaul, working with engineering, management and operations. Click to read more...
William R. “Billy Bob” Clark, is an operator with Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership and a Local 550 health and safety representative. The DOE Office of Environmental Management appointed Clark to the board for a two-year term along with four other people.
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.