NRC to hold public forum to review safety at Lead Cascade plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will conduct a public meeting on April 21 at the Ohio State University Endeavor Center, 1864 Shyville Road in Piketon, Ohio, to discuss American Centrifuge Operating’s facility at Lead Cascade.

NRC staff will be on hand at 6 p.m. to discuss the agency’s review of safety performance at the facility for the period of Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2014. Topics will include safety operations, radiological controls, facility support and licensing.

Having concluded the plant has continued to operate safely and securely, the agency plans to announce that no specific areas need improvement at this time. Based on the successful report and the commission’s limited range of operations, the NRC plans to conduct a more limited version of the inspection in the future.

The meeting will be open to the media as well as the public, and officials will be available for a question-and-answer session after the business portion and presentation.

American Centrifuge Operating, based in Delaware, runs the advanced uranium enrichment plant in Piketon to produce low enriched uranium as a key component of commercial nuclear fuel. The plant has been operational since Sept. 2007, when American Centrifuge machines began functioning in a cascade configuration.