In a departure from the budget standoffs of recent years, Congress last week quietly passed a spending bill funding government operations into early December. In doing so, it also approved $13.7 million for cleanup activities at the Portsmouth gaseous diffusion facility in Ohio.This summer, site contractor Fluor-B&W Portsmouth warned employees of fall layoffs totaling 505 employees and 170 contractors. While the budget for 2015 remains uncertain, the Columbus Dispatch reported that the most recent spending legislation will fund those jobs through December 11.Opened in 1956, the Portsmouth plant initially enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and transitioned to power plant fuel production in the 1960s. Usec stopped its enrichment activity there in 2001 and placed the plant into cold shutdown in 2005 in preparation of dismantlement. The enrichment plant is the largest Department of Energy facility under one roof. To date, 13 of its 415 facilities have been demolished, and 259,827 square feet have been cleared, according to the site's contractor.
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