There are 17 plants in 12 states involved in nuclear weapons production, and the one in Fernald is the only one that processes uranium for making the weapons.

So, it is necessary to process natural uranium to make "enriched" uranium, which has a higher fraction of U-235.

In 1990, the enterprise stopped processing uranium.

The plant, which processes uranium, has been closed for two weeks by a strike over wages and safety concerns.

In addition, Babcock & Wilcox and Nuclear Fuel Services have plants that process highly enriched uranium, mainly for the Federal Government.

According to the study, 600,000 to 3.1 million pounds of uranium dust have been released since the plant opened in 1951 to process uranium for nuclear weapons.

There is nothing secret anymore about how to process uranium or plutonium to the purity needed for bomb-making, nor is it all that hard to acquire the raw ingredients.

The plant in southwest Ohio, about 18 miles from Cincinnati, is a foundry that processes uranium for the Government's nuclear weapons or as fuel for reactors.

Both Washington and London have suggested recently that Iraq sought to acquire aluminum tubes to process uranium, rejecting the idea that they could be used for ballistic weapons.

In contrast, 123 of the workers were involved in cleanup of radioactive contamination at the plant, which processes uranium that the Government refines elsewhere for nuclear weapons.