PIKETON, Ohio - The United States Enrichment Corporation recently supported trainers from the USW Local 5-689 to provide a Hazardous Waste class to students at the Scioto County Joint Vocational School.

During a period of six weeks, the class of 16 juniors learned the proper techniques to safely work with hazardous materials often found at industrial sites and environmental cleanup projects. This is the second year representatives from the USW Local 5-689, supported by USEC, have taught the class.

“We are proud to support the education of the youth of Scioto County,” said Wray Jordan, USEC General Manager. “This training will help provide students the knowledge and tools to work safely in a wide-range of industrial settings.”

School officials are pleased with the results of the class thus far. According to Henry Collins, a teacher at the JVS, many of the students who completed the Hazardous Waste training last year were offered jobs with an environmental cleanup company in South Point, Ohio. "The training the students received is the same training given to workers at USEC, and the subcontractors at the Piketon enrichment site," stated Chuck Wiltshire, Training Coordinator for USW.

"The training was provided by our United Steelworkers International Union (USWIU) under a grant by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and a cooperative effort of the USW local union. Our site trainers, working together with USEC, provide an opportunity to give back to the local community that has been so supportive of the Piketon site and the workforce," said Dan Minter USW Local President.

In addition to their classroom and field training, students toured USEC operations at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and observed the practical use of some of the techniques they had learned.

Class instructors from USW Local 5-689 included Mike Horton, Carl Hartley, Dave Simpson and Chuck Wiltshire.

The United States Enrichment Corporation, a subsidiary of USEC Inc., operates a uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky, and does contract work for the U.S. Department of Energy in Piketon.

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