THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120141
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
The Navy says it will be forced to cut 740 jobs at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard if a dispute over where to store spent nuclear fuel from warships isn't resolved soon.
That's as many as 140 more jobs than previously estimated that may be lost.
The shipyard in Portsmouth was scheduled to begin deactivating the nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser Bainbridge in October. But a federal court injunction blocking the yard from sending nuclear waste to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory could mean the work will have to be delayed or canceled.
That's because the Navy has no other place to send radioactive fuel from reactors aboard the Bainbridge.
A shipyard spokesman initially indicated last month that between 600 and 650 workers could be affected by the postponement or loss of the deactivation job.
But in a letter Monday to the Naval Sea Systems Command, the shipyard estimated the number to be 740, roughly 10 percent its 7,300-person work force.
``That's a lot of people, and the impact on the community is significant,'' said Joe Law, president of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard-Portsmouth Association, a group of shipyard employees, local businesses and civic leaders that promotes the yard. ``It would be a tragedy to have that happen when the Navy needs the shipyard to do the work that it was trained for.''
The naval yard's employment already has been cut from more than 12,000 five years ago.
In its letter, the yard didn't specify how the job cuts related to the Bainbridge would be carried out. It indicated, however, that those reductions would be in addition to ``any other downsizing that may be required for other purposes.'' by CNB