Honeywell eyes June restart of Metropolis plant
Honeywell hiring back workers, looking to restart Metropolis plant in June
METROPOLIS, Ill. (AP) -- A southern Illinois plant that helps make nuclear fuel is calling back workers in hopes of resuming operations in June. The plant was forced into a yearlong shutdown due to regulator-requested upgrades.
Honeywell says some 135 salaried and another 135 hourly workers will be in place by the targeted restart of the Metropolis plant. Raw uranium ore is refined into uranium hexafluoride at the plant.
The plant has been closed since May of last year after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered Honeywell to make the site able to withstand an earthquake or tornado. The regulators also wanted the company to revise its emergency response plans to natural disasters.
The company in recent months has been incrementally hiring back workers at the plant, among other things to get them retrained.
