Ed Ford, secretary of Patton's cabinet, said there was no indication DOE won't sign the agreement Patton negotiated last week with Jessie Roberson, the DOE deputy in charge of cleanup.

"The governor did receive a call from Ms. Roberson who said that everything was OK and that it would be signed (Tuesday)," Ford said. "But we haven't gotten it. It is just the bureaucracy up there (in Washington). We are anticipating receiving that in the morning."

DOE also notified U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield on Tuesday that the signed agreement would be delivered to Patton by the end of the day.

The agreement resolves a two-year dispute over DOE's reluctance to set deadlines, or milestones, for completing cleanup of the most serious contamination at the plant, where uranium is enriched into nuclear fuel. DOE said setting deadlines creates costly bureaucracy that actually delays cleanup work. The state insisted on deadlines, saying it was the only means for holding DOE accountable for having the work completed on time.