Plans unveiled for Ohio’s first nuclear reactor in 2 decades

Nuclear facility will take years to build, but Ohio officials say jobs will be worth the wait.

Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, announces the plans for a power plant in Piketon, Ohio, Thursday, June 18, 2009, as Jean-Pierre West, Executive Vice President of UniStar Nuclear Energy, seated left, and Anne Lauvergeon, President of AREVA, listen. Officials formally announce a new nuclear power plant for the Gasous Diffusion Plant in Pike County.

AP photo Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, announces the plans for a power plant in Piketon, Ohio, Thursday, June 18, 2009, as Jean-Pierre West, Executive Vice President of UniStar Nuclear Energy, seated left, and Anne Lauvergeon, President of AREVA, listen. Officials formally announce a new nuclear power plant for the Gasous Diffusion Plant in Pike County.

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By Tom Beyerlein, Staff Writer Updated 7:22 AM Friday, June 19, 2009

PIKETON — In one of Ohio’s poorest regions, a jazz combo played “Pennies From Heaven.” Executives from bitterly competitive companies embraced. Politicians of the two parties declared esteem for one another. A Republican senator gave a shout-out to a union leader.

Americans even applauded the French.

The world didn’t come to an end, but there were many stars in alignment Thursday, June 18, as dignitaries announced plans to turn a contaminated Cold War-era atomic plant into America’s first “clean energy park,” home to Ohio’s first nuclear reactor in two decades.

The new Southern Ohio Clean Energy Park Alliance will prepare plans and licensing documents to locate at least one reactor on a 3,700-acre federal complex 100 miles southeast of Dayton.

It’s a partnership between the electric utility Duke Energy, which serves Warren and Butler counties; the French reactor vendor Areva; UniStar Nuclear Energy; and USEC Inc., which leases the Piketon complex from the Energy Department.

Officials said construction of the reactor would employ 1,400 to 1,800 workers on average with a peak of about 3,000, and 400 to 700 permanent workers.

It won’t happen overnight. Construction may not even begin for another six or seven years, and the reactor wouldn’t go on line for a decade or more. But none of that seemed to matter to those in attendance Thursday.

“I think the most important thing about today’s announcement is that it gives people hope for the future,” said U.S. Sen. George Voinovich. “To me, this signifies that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.”

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