MOUND TO WIND DOWN
PEACE PUTS LAB AT RISK

NEWS

Watkins' recommendation to end the Mound Plant's role in nuclear weapons production would slash its workforce by more than 1,500 jobs and dim its image as a center of science and high-technology.

The recommendation would cut the Miamisburg plant's work force from about 2,000 to no more than 400 by the end of 1996, Watkins said.

Here is a history of the Mound Lab: 1926 - Thomas and Hochwalt laboratories is established in Dayton (acquired by Monsanto Chemical Co. in 1936). 1942 - Army Gen. Leslie Groves, in charge of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, has orders for the Dayton Project in which Monsanto studies properties of radioactive polonium, the neutron source that would start the atom-splitting process. The project is first located at 1601 W. First St., then moves to the Runnymeade Playhouse in Oakwood. 1946 - Miamisburg is selected by the Atomic Energy Commission as site of permanent polonium production plant. 1949 - Polonium processing starts. 1959 - Mound-pioneered radioisotope heat source technology opens era of nuclear-powered spacecraft when President Eisenhower broadcasts radio message using relay satellite powered by a heat source. 1961 - Plutonium-238 production starts. 1968 - First plutonium 238-fueled cardiac pacemaker sources are delivered. 1980 - Plastic bonded explosive is first produced at Mound, and manufacture of heat source components for General Purpose Heat Source for International Solar Polar space vehicle begins. 1985 - Energy Department's environmental protection program at Mound is criticized by Ohio EPA and attorney general. 1986 - Monsanto announces it will discontinue operating Mound on expiration of its contract with the federal government on Sept. 30, 1988. 1988 - EG&G Inc. of Wellesley, Mass., is named by Energy Department as new contractor to operate the Mound Plant.

Mound's work, which ranges from producing nuclear weapons parts to assembling generators for space probes, would be reduced to cleaning up and shutting down - a process that could take 15 to 20 years.

Watkins' recommendation would consolidate the Department of Energy's non-nuclear operations of three plants - Mound, the Pinellas Plant in Florida and the Kansas City Plant in Missouri - into the Kansas City plant. The department also wants to move Mound's operations involving nuclear materials to other sites.

At Mound, Don Michel, president and general manager of Mound Applied Technologies Inc., stressed that Watkins had characterized the move as a "preferred alternative" and added, "That doesn't mean it's going to happen."

EG&G operates the Mound under an Energy Department contract.

Michel said several "significant steps" remain to be done in the department's environmental impact study before any work is moved.

But he said the department is likely to begin preparing for the move by reducing operations and trimming positions - possibly 150 to 200 jobs around the middle of next year.

Ralph Jaeger, head of Mound's decommissioning program, said cleaning up the facility could cost up to $2 billion and employ more than 700 people over the next 20 years.

"We could go to a third to a half of our current work force (of about 2,000 people)," Jaeger said. He said many of Mound's present employees would be able to switch to decommissioning jobs.

"The people who build these labs will be very useful taking them down," he said.

But 72 of the plant's employees have doctoral degrees and the shutdown would mean some of the area's brightest scientists would be forced to leave town for work.

Watkins said his decision to speed up a program to reorganize the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons production complex resulted from President Bush's initiative to reduce the nuclear weapons stockpile and a need to cut costs.

But this farewell to nuclear arms produced little cheering in an area where the Cold War meant jobs.

A spokeswoman for Republican Ohio Gov. George Voinovich said he was "very angry" at Watkins' announcement and felt Ohio was taking more than its fair share of cuts.

U.S. Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, said he was "disturbed" over the impact on the Mound work force and urged Watkins to implement a job placement and retraining program immediately.

U.S. Rep. Tony Hall, D-Dayton, challenged Watkins' reasoning and accused the Energy Department of using a "phantom report" to justify the recommendation.

Employees leaving the plant Monday afternoon expressed sadness and resignation that rumors of plans to close Mound finally had turned to reality.

"In all (Department of Energy) complexes, the attitude is you could be here today, gone tomorrow. It's not like we're producing a product that's sold to the public," said Allan Clark, who has worked 10 years in security at the plant.

Hall issued the most stinging criticism of Watkins' announcement. He said Watkins' recommendation was based on a "secret cost analysis" reportedly completed in October and never made available to the public or Congress.

"It is outlandish for the Energy Department to justify changes of this magnitude on the basis of a phantom report," Hall said.

Michel also indicated he wasn't convinced that the move will save taxpayers $100 million per year, as Watkins claimed. Asked what reasons he had been given for closing Mound, Michel said, "None that I find persuasive."

Mound employee Clark said he may try to get a job at another Energy Department facility, perhaps in Oak Ridge, Tenn. But in the meantime, he is now in the bind of selling his house and buying another one. "I'm not sure what I'll do about that," Clark said.

STAFF WRITERS Mark Fisher and Jonathan Brinckman, Jeff Nesmith of the Cox Washington Bureau and The Associated Press contributed to this report.