PIKE COUNTY, Ohio — WSAZ reported that national and local leaders gathered on Wednesday, Oct. 14, to discuss what completion of the American Energy Hub and the PORTS Technology Campus could mean for the local economy. The proposal includes a data center described as potentially among the largest in the United States and possibly the world, according to the report. The project is intended to redevelop a former uranium enrichment site into an energy and technology hub.
Demolition and cleanup are already taking place at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant to prepare for the PORTS Technology Campus, which was announced in March, WSAZ reported. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site page says the Piketon site historically covers more than 3,700 acres and has four main areas: the former gaseous diffusion plant, centrifuge facilities, a depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion facility, and an on-site waste disposal facility.
The former diffusion plant is the largest area, with process buildings X-333, X-330 and X-326, hundreds of supporting facilities, more than 400 structures and a seven-mile perimeter road. The waste disposal facility has a 300-acre footprint northeast of that road.
DOE says more than 2,200 workers are currently at the site. Deactivation continues at X-330 and is nearly finished at X-333. DOE also says its environmental monitoring meets or exceeds state and national standards and that 4,500 legacy DUF6 cylinders, about 20% of inventory, were recently converted to safer forms.
DOE Assistant Secretary Tim Walsh said peak construction could reach up to 30,000 jobs over the next couple of years, with a roughly five-year construction timeline and about 1,000 or more direct operations jobs once data centers are built. Partners say part of a $40 million community investment could include childcare, while local leaders call childcare and workforce training critical. Attorney Kevin Shoemaker of the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative said the work could reshape the region and support national security. DOE says the project is privately financed. Officials did not announce a completion date Wednesday.