KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Many stakeholders in a proposed multi-billion-dollar uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge said it will change the city economically as well as physically.
Currently, there isn't an exact figure of how much money will be invested in the development, but the anticipated decades of construction will provide opportunities.
"We're talking several billions of dollars in investment," said Stuart McWhorter, Tennessee's Commissioner of Economic and Community Development. "Capital investment in Roane County, in Oak Ridge."
McWhorter said necessary investments in muscle and brain power will ripple across the region, especially in education.
"If they're not addressing the nuclear sector, from a standpoint of workforce development, workforce training, they will be," he said.
Local 270 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) based in Oak Ridge views the project as an opportunity to grow its portfolio. They are anticipating it will help boost the demand for new development in the area.
"Bringing all these jobs in - if we're able to use local labor and everything else - it creates so many opportunities," said Daniel Smith, Local 270's Business Manager.
Smith said that business was already good. The local's membership is increasing. He said the city of Oak Ridge is union-friendly, and the presence of companies handling large government research contracts means work is plentiful.
Derek Guy, who oversees Local 270's membership development, said the chapter is building an apprentice workshop next to the Local's main building.
"We're building a training facility because we need it." Guy said." The work that's coming, not only out here at DOE, Oak Ridge, TVA Kingston Steam Plant....there is so much infrastructure coming."
Both Smith and Guy said the plant stands out among those projects. They agree that it will change the city, and they are confident Local 270 will be part of it.
Their concern is that Orano USA will source its labor from contractors in other states.
"If they get somebody out of state, they're not contributing to this community, and everything else," Smith said.
They said they believe Oak Ridge City Council will work with them, but negotiations between all of the major players must happen.
Rep. Chuck Fleischman said there aren't currently enough skilled workers in the area for what the project will need but he isn't worried.
"The demand will be staggering for what Orano does," Fleischman said.