“We deal with hydrofluoric acid,” said Darrell Lillie, president of United Steelworkers Local 7-669, which represents the union workers. “We make fluorine. This is bad stuff. The least we feel like we could have is good medical benefits when we retire.”

Image Credit... The New York Times

Honeywell rejects the notion that its facility makes workers more susceptible to cancer and maintains that its labor proposal would raise the average overall salary for employees. The company says that is fair given that the plant, which converts milled uranium into uranium hexafluoride for nuclear reactors, is projected to lose $20 million this year.

“Unfortunately, the union has demonstrated very little desire to reach a mutually beneficial and workable agreement that acknowledges the economic realities of the plant,” said Peter Dalpe, a spokesman for Honeywell.

In Metropolis, a blue-collar community of 6,500, Clark Kent has long been the main draw. A 15-foot tall Superman keeps solemn watch outside the county courthouse, and the local newspaper is called The Metropolis Planet. The Chamber of Commerce used to hand out packets of “kryptonite” candy to children.

But this summer everyone is concerned about uranium, not kryptonite.

Workers have long feared that the plant poses dangers. According to Honeywell’s quarterly financial filings, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department are investigating whether the plant complied with federal law in its storage of sludge. A grand jury has been convened in the matter, the filings said.