Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Gaseous Diffusion Plant Branch

A branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad served the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (USEC) in Piketon, Ohio, part of a federal program to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear reactors and weapons.

USEC began operations in 1954 and continued until May 2001, when its enrichment operations were consolidated with a facility in Paducah, Kentucky. Transfer and shipping operations followed to Paducah in 2002. Today, the Piketon site is home to the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility and the American Centrifuge Plant, a next-generation uranium enrichment facility.

USEC was served by a branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad that split from the mainline at Germany, Ohio. Built shortly before the plant opened in 1954, the branch included a significant trestle above Happy Hollow. It was dismantled around 2001. USEC continues to be served today by a branch off the Norfolk Southern mainline.