LES grows more

The first cascade isn't expected to come off the line at the National Enrichment Facility until the fourth quarter of 2009. But already the Eunice, N.M., uranium plant is planning to double its capacity.

The Louisiana Energy Services plant, now slated to cost a total of $3 billion, will expand from a size of 3 million separative work units to 5.9 million SWU by 2014. By then, the company says it will be able to power half of the nation's 104 nuclear power plants.

LES is a limited liability company formed to build and operate the facility, located 65 miles northwest of Odessa. It's the fourth enrichment plant and first in the United States to be built by LES parent Urenco, a British energy and technology group.

There's one reason for the plant's expansion - demand, said Clint Williamson, LES vice president for governmental affairs. The site has already sold its first eight years of production.

Power companies are looking for fuel that is safe, reliable and domestically produced for their plants, Williamson said.

"It made perfect sense," he said.

The facility's modular design lends itself to expansion, Williamson said.

The addition will add 50 employees to the 244 currently working at the enrichment facility, Williamson said. Though the plant hasn't officially opened, employees are already working in areas like finance, legal, construction and maintenance.

It also means 350 construction workers will be in the area through the end of 2014.

"All of our folks live in the area," Williamson said. "They are dedicated to operating the facility in a safe, well-thought-out manner."

But some aren't convinced. Eunice resident Rose Gardner, a longtime critic of the plant, said she's not surprised to see it expand.

"They're getting greedy aren't they?" she said.

The combination of the enrichment facility and Waste Control Specialists' radioactive disposal site, across the Texas state line in Andrews County, makes the area a "risky" place to live, Gardner said.

"It's just a mess," she said. "We're just like an armpit. We smell bad. We look bad. Everybody just poo poos on us."

But Wesley Burnett, Andrews economic development director, said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has thoroughly inspected the plant and will continue to do so.

"We feel it's extremely safe and don't have a problem with that at all," he said.

The project strongly benefits the Andrews area, with about 30 percent of its employees living there, Burnett said. And, with a low cost of living and no state income tax, he expects that number to grow.

"The more that they come to the (Andrews) area and have an opportunity to visit, they can see it's practically as close to the site as Hobbs," he said.

The plant also helps diversify the economy, Burnett said.

Construction is progressing on the original site, with day and night shifts, Williamson said. Work is complete on the centrifuge assembly building and is moving along on the main separator building.

"You can see the building far in the distance," he said. "At night, it looks like a high school football game, there's so much activity."