The Young-Rainey Star Center is a high-technology and manufacturing center located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States.[1] The Star Center is the former site of the Pinellas Plant, a nuclear weapons manufacturing facility operated by the Department of Energy. It produced electronic components for the United States nuclear weapons program. At the end of the cold war, the facility was closed and redeveloped as the Young-Rainey Star Center.[1]
In 1956, General Electric constructed the Pinellas Plant on a 96-acre (390,000 m2) plot in Pinellas County, Florida.[1] This site was formerly known as Bryan's Dairy Farm. In 1957, the site was sold to the United States Atomic Energy Commission. In exchange, GE was awarded a 25 year contract to operate the site. GE continued to operate the site until 1992, when the contract was transferred to Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin). In this same year, the closure of the site was announced.
In March 1995, the facility was formally sold to the Pinellas County government. DOE closure operations continued at the site until December 1997. As of August 2009, the DOE still maintains a presence on the site as part of continued clean-up operations.[2]