Ohio, Utah vie for plant

CLEVELAND — The Pentagon-pushed comeback of a metal used to make parts for missiles, satellites and fighter jets means an Ohio company is in the running for a new beryllium plant.

The Defense Department is helping underwrite plans at Cleveland-based Brush Wellman Inc. for a plant in either Ohio or Utah. Earlier this month, the company won a $9 million contract from the department to help build the plant, which could cost as much as $60 million.

The end of the Cold War reduced the nation's need to stockpile beryllium, used to make nuclear bomb triggers.

Brush Wellman, a unit of Cleveland-based Brush Engineered Materials Inc., closed its obsolete primary beryllium operation near Toledo in Elmore about five years ago, after the Defense Logistics Agency said it would begin selling beryllium from a national stockpile.

But the metal is finding more uses in advanced military systems, said Michael Anderson, president of Brush Wellman's beryllium products group.

Beryllium is used to make guidance systems for missiles and targeting systems for jet fighters. Its stiffness reduces vibration and improves reliability of the fighter's optical system for locating and tracking targets.

Brush says that for some uses, there is no substitute. Since the Elmore operation closed, the nation has lacked a sustainable domestic supply, the company says.

A Defense Department report to Congress last year forecast that defense demand for beryllium will grow and the domestic stockpile will be depleted between 2008 and 2011.

As the stockpile declines, Brush will be working on the new plant, which is expected to operating within five years.

"We expect there will be material to take us through most of this decade, which will be the period of time it will take us to build the new plant," Anderson said.

Besides the Elmore site, Brush is studying whether to put the plant in Delta, Utah, where it has mining and processing operations that employ 68 people.

Elmore is considered the company's flagship plant and employs about 500 people. It's Ottawa County's second-largest employer.

The new plant is expected to add about 25 jobs and create additional support jobs.

Anderson said both locations have advantages.

In Elmore, "you've already got the infrastructure to support the new plant," he said.

But the new plant will be a chemical facility that is "more akin to the kinds of things we already do in Utah," he said.

Last year, beryllium products totaled $39.5 million of Brush Engineered Materials' $496 million in revenue, or 8 percent. Defense and other government-related markets, including aerospace, were the largest, accounting for more than 60 percent of beryllium sales. Other beryllium markets include medical, telecommunications, computers, electronics, optical scanning and automotive.

The metal is six time stronger than steel but only one-fourth of steel's weight. It's stiff and able to withstand high heats. It also is transparent to X-rays, which makes it ideal for windows in X-ray medical equipment.

Exposure can result in a potentially fatal lung ailment that affects a small number of people whose immune systems are susceptible.

Brush has been sued over the years by people alleging the company failed to warn of the dangers. The company has aggressively fought the claims.