PIKETON, Ohio — U.S. Sen. Jon Husted joined Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito in Piketon for a tour of the Centrus American Centrifuge Plant, where the two discussed Ohio’s role in domestic nuclear energy production, Husted’s office announced.
Husted said he was glad to show Capito the work underway in Piketon to rebuild America’s nuclear fuel supply, calling Centrus the only U.S.-owned company currently enriching uranium with American technology. He said the plant is creating good-paying jobs in Piketon, strengthening the domestic fuel supply and positioning Ohio at the center of the nation’s nuclear future.
Capito said she was pleased to join Husted to see how federal investments are transforming Ohio’s energy landscape.
The plant began enrichment in late 2023 — the first U.S.-owned, U.S.-technology enrichment plant to start production since 1954, according to Husted’s office — and is producing high-assay, low-enriched uranium under a Department of Energy contract. A multi-billion-dollar expansion announced alongside Gov. Mike DeWine, Husted, Rep. Dave Taylor, and others in September 2025 is now underway.
The visit lands in a community still living with the legacy of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the shuttered Cold War-era uranium enrichment complex just outside Piketon. An Ohio Atomic Press investigation previously reported on deliberate late-night atmospheric releases of radioactive gas — including technetium-99 and uranium hexafluoride — vented through the plant’s tall stack, citing a 1985 DOE contractor report and 1994 federal emissions data showing 85.9% of releases came from the X-326 purge cascades.
Residents and advocates have raised contamination concerns around the site for years, and that history has made every new round of nuclear investment in Piketon a mix of economic promise and lingering distrust — a tension neither senator’s office addressed in its announcement of the tour.
