Honeywell Uranium Hexafluoride Processing Facility, a uranium

Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

 conversion facility, is located 3 km northwest of Metropolis, Illinois

Metropolis, Illinois

Metropolis is a city located along the Ohio River in Massac County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,482...

. The plant, Honeywell

Honeywell

Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

 Specialty Chemicals in Metropolis, Illinois, has a nominal capacity of 12,700 metric tons of uranium

Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

 per year. The plant manufactures a variety of products, but about 80 percent of the plant's work involves refining raw uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride

Uranium hexafluoride

Uranium hexafluoride , referred to as "hex" in the nuclear industry, is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It forms solid grey crystals at standard temperature and pressure , is highly toxic, reacts violently with water...

. Across the Ohio river

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 in Paducah, Kentucky

Paducah, Kentucky

Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...

 the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant

The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is a facility located in McCracken County, Kentucky, near Paducah, Kentucky, that produces enriched uranium, for nuclear power plants. The plant is now operated by United States Enrichment Corporation, a subsidiary of USEC Incorporated, a publicly traded...

, can enrich the uranium hexafluoride into various levels for nuclear power or nuclear weapon purposes.
ConverDyn, a general partnership between affiliates of Honeywell

Honeywell

Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

 and General Atomics

General Atomics

General Atomics is a nuclear physics and defense contractor headquartered in San Diego, California. General Atomics’ research into fission and fusion matured into competencies in related technologies, allowing the company to expand into other fields of research...

, is the exclusive agent for conversion sales from the Metropolis Works.

Incidents

December 22, 2003 - Site Area Emergency

Site Area Emergency declaration

At 0245 CST on 12/22/03, a small release of Uranium hexafluoride occurred lasting approximately 45 minutes. At 0300 CST the licensee declared a Site Area Emergency, indicating failure of systems design to prevent risk to the public. All personnel were evacuated within a 1 mile radius. About 25 people offsite were temporarily evacuated and some 75 persons remained sheltered for a time in their homes. Licensee notified State of Illinois. NRC was notified at 0400 CST.

The licensee terminated the Site Area Emergency at 0650 CST on 12/22/03.

External links

• ConverDyn's corporate website
• Official facility website
• Dan Frosch, "In Superman’s Hometown, a Labor Dispute Over Health", New York Times, August 8, 2010.