Investigation Yields Critical Data for Paducah Site Cleanup Decisions

A 250-foot-long, 13-foot-deep trench is excavated at the Paducah Site to gather essential geological data for upcoming cleanup decisions that play a major part in the site’s holistic cleanup strategy, dubbed “Decision 2029.”

EM partners with university entities to advance cleanup, transition from nuclear remediation to nuclear renaissance

PADUCAH, Ky. — The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) partnered with a University of Kentucky consortium and research center to complete field work culminating a larger investigation that provides valuable geologic data for upcoming cleanup decisions at the Paducah Site.

The field work supports an initiative dubbed “Decision 2029.” Working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state of Kentucky, EM is advancing a streamlined approach that's reducing regulatory decisions by 90%, allowing for accelerated cleanup and freeing up land at the site for future use as quickly as possible.

EM, the Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment and the Kentucky Geological Survey dug a 250-foot-long, 13-foot-deep trench. Geologists then photographed, mapped and logged the soil in the walls of the trench, capturing the structure and sequence of sediment, informing engineering designs and options for future cleanup.

“This level of technical detail strengthens the foundation for the cleanup decisions ahead,” Paducah Site Lead April Ladd said. “Our goal is to ensure every evaluated option is supported by rigorous, defensible data and enables us to make cleanup decisions that protect workers, the community and the long term integrity of the site.”

A geologist logs observations of sediment and rock layers in the walls of a trench workers dug to gather information for the Paducah Site and confirm geologic conditions used to evaluate alternatives for cleanup.

By integrating the trenching results with geophysical surveys and borehole data collected in earlier phases of the study, EM is fortifying a model of the site to evaluate waste disposal alternatives for upcoming demolition and remediation activities.

As part of Decision 2029’s “three-legged stool,” waste disposal alternatives are being evaluated along with options for facility deactivation and decommissioning and remediation of environmental media such as soils and surface water at the Paducah Site.

Myrna Redfield, program manager for Paducah Site deactivation and remediation contractor Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP), reiterated the importance of data gathered during the recent field work to move the site toward future cleanup milestones.

“This investigation provides critical insight into how the ground has behaved over time,” Redfield said. “That understanding is essential for designing any future engineered systems to complete the cleanup mission at the Paducah Site while ensuring they perform safely and reliably.”

-Contributor: Dylan Nichols