‘Project Ike’ to bring uranium enrichment, jobs to Oak Ridge
Government and company officials celebrated the ribbon cutting for uranium company Orano in Oak Ridge. Pictured are U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, state Sen. Ken Yager, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Orano USA CEO Jean Luc Palayer, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter, and Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch.
Officials cut a ribbon May 29 for the opening of Orano’s new office.
While the 40-person office is located on the city’s Anderson County side at 151 Lafayette Drive, the company’s future 750,000-square-foot, multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment complex will be on Oak Ridge’s Roane County side.
Orano already operates 15 offices and manufacturing facilities across 10 states, according to information shared on its website and in a social media news release.
The company reported that the complex, once built, will begin processing fuel for nuclear power plant reactors in the early 2030s. The facility is expected to employ more than 300 people.
Orano will call the effort “Project Ike,” named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who promoted peaceful uses of nuclear technology.
Attending the May 29 event were U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Tennessee Sen. Ken Yager, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter, Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Orano USA CEO Jean-Luc Palayer, and other federal, state, business and community leaders.
“The team members in this office are developing an American facility to produce significant amounts of enriched uranium that will fuel not just reactors, but the future — powering new technologies that will define the next century,” Palayer said in the release.
“America needs new nuclear power. The world needs new nuclear power. New nuclear power needs Tennessee and Project Ike in Oak Ridge.”
