Congressman Chuck Fleischmann says a new uranium processing facility recently approved at Oak Ridge "will be the largest construction project in the state's history."
"It's $6.5 billion and is equivalent to 10-12 Volkswagen plants," he told members of the Pachyderm Club on Monday.
Rep. Fleischmann said he plans to lead a bus trip to Oak Ridge so that Chattanooga business leaders can find out about how to get a piece of the action.
He said the other choice was to build a plutonium facility out West. When Tennessee won out, "It was a boon for our state," he said.
Rep. Fleischmann said Oak Ridge also is holding the world's lead for super computers.
And he said a modular nuclear reaction will be under production at Clinch River in Tennessee.
He said it is designed to be a smaller-version nuclear facility.
Rep. Fleischmann again hit "Obamacare," saying it "costs too much and is not sustainable. It is not a new tax - it is 21 new taxes."
He also said he does not support ethanol efforts, saying, "Let corn be for food."
The Chattanooga attorney said, "We've got to fight to keep the House and pick up some Senate seats so we can force Obama to some kind of fiscal restraint."
The speaker said he recently was in Scott County at the upper end of his district and had an audience with former Senator Howard Baker.
He told the group, "He said he was proud that I am his Congressman. He told me I was just the right size. I'll take it."