Paducah Bridges Generational Knowledge for Legacy Building Deactivation

Paducah Site workers train for upcoming deactivation activities in the C-337 Process Building, the second large process building to be deactivated at the site. The training leverages over 300 years of combined knowledge and experience from seasoned employees, ensuring a strong safety culture as work transitions to fissile equipment.

PADUCAH, Ky. — As members of the next-generation workforce arrive at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Paducah Site, they will undergo a new training by longtime employees covering a topic that may be unfamiliar to the incoming workers: the site’s past uranium enrichment operations.

The training focuses on the necessary controls and safeguards to support upcoming deactivation activities in the C-337 Process Building, the second large process building to undergo deactivation at the Paducah Site and the first slated for demolition here.

Ultimately, the training ensures the complex and challenging work at the Paducah Site is done safely. It also leverages the knowledgeable and skilled workforce to foster a new generation of highly trained professionals. This supports the Paducah Site’s transition to reindustrialization, realizing the nuclear renaissance currently underway in DOE.

"Ensuring the safety of our workforce and the public is paramount as we continue to undertake complex deactivation activities," Portsmouth Paducah Project Office acting Deputy Manager and Paducah Site Lead April Ladd said. "The proactive approach to training and the transfer of critical knowledge from our seasoned experts to our newer employees is a testament to a commitment to a strong safety culture and the successful execution of our cleanup mission at Paducah."

Drawing from institutional knowledge within the Paducah Site workforce, a dedicated group of Paducah Site employees developed the training and will serve as instructors. These individuals boast more than 300 years of combined knowledge in mechanics, operations and engineering.

The training’s purpose is to familiarize employees with the safe handling of fissile materials, particularly those without historical knowledge of uranium enrichment operations at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which ceased operations more than a decade ago. Fissile materials are substances capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction.

Earlier this year, Paducah Site workers successfully completed processing nearly 500 nonfissile converters for removal from the C-333 Process Building, the site’s first process building to undergo deactivation prior to demolition.

The proven methods from that milestone will be incorporated into the new training on fissile materials and robust controls for nuclear safety. These controls consider mass, volume and geometry through mitigation, engineered safeguards and new procedures. Such preparations are underway to process converters from C-337.

"The commitment to continuous learning and the responsible management of our critical operations is at the core of what we do,” Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP) Program Manager Myrna Redfield said. “Leveraging the decades of experience from our workforce, along with their familiarity of this work, ensures our workforce is well prepared to tackle challenging operations safely and effectively.”

FRNP is the deactivation and remediation contractor at the Paducah Site.

-Contributor: Dylan Nichols