In May 2013, the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), a publicly held company that had leased the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) facilities for enrichment operations for the 20 years following the Energy Policy Act of 1992, made the decision to cease enrichment and returned the leased facilities to DOE. DOE and USEC completed the transition and return of the sites process buildings and other facilities in October 2014. Since deactivation activities began, optimization of the site's infrastructure, such as the consolidation of the site’s four switchyards and replacement of its large coal-fired steam plant, continues to ensure the changing needs of the site are being met while reducing future operations and maintenance costs.
When deactivating a process building, there are key priorities Paducah follows. Protecting the workforce, public and environment are the main focuses. The Paducah Site complies with regulations and requirements and allocates decommissioning work to reduce risk. In addition, fulfilling commitments to stakeholders and facilitating low-cost surveillance and maintenance after a facility is deactivated is essential.
Deactivation work on the C-333 Process Building continues with a focus on the safe removal and segmentation of its large components. In addition, PPPO is planning to begin the deactivation of another former enrichment process building, C-331. D&R activities will continue on surplus ancillary facilities, such as former cooling towers, helping to ensure a stable, highly trained and qualified workforce remains available.
Paducah Cleanup Progress
Since the return of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant facilities to DOE in October 2014 after 20 years of private operation, the DOE has been able to establish a fully integrated baseline or forecast of time and resources that will be required for the site to be fully remediated. Cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site is anticipated to be completed in 2065 at an approximate total cost of $17 billion.
Since 2019, deactivation of the C-333 Process Building continues. To prepare for building demolition, more than 500 pieces of large process gas equipment called converters are being removed and downsized at the Material-Sizing Area. The Material-Sizing Area is an area specifically constructed to complete segmentation, analyze non-destructive assay measurements and downsize materials safely. In 2023, this area was constructed when the removal process in C-333 began clearing process gas equipment, housings and concrete pedestals. Progress is accelerated by utilizing lessons learned from the Portsmouth Site and utilized feedback to improve both safety and production.
The strategy to accomplish complete cleanup at the Paducah Site is to focus on deactivation, demolition and remediation of the C-400 Cleaning Building and surrounding area. The Paducah Site is home to one of the largest groundwater contamination plumes in the entire Environmental Management complex, although its size and off-site migration have been significantly reduced and/or reversed over the past two decades. The key source of this trichloroethylene (TCE) plume is the former C-400 Cleaning Building. To further reduce the northwest plume centroid, an enhanced pump-and-treat system will be installed in 2025. PPPO’s Decision 2029 (linked to Decision 2029) plan is intended to result in a more holistic approach for tackling groundwater contamination and accelerate necessary decision making.
In 2018, working with Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection and EPA Region 4, DOE committed to the C-400 City Block strategy that will remediate the primary sources of groundwater contamination under and around the C-400 building. This strategy aims to investigate all remaining building structures (e.g., slab and subsurface structures), analyze any release of hazardous substances to soils and/or groundwater, fully define the contamination found within the C-400 Complex, select a remedy to address source areas of contamination and related contaminants of concern including demolition of the C-400 Cleaning Building. To help with investigation, 18 monitoring wells were installed along with 112 defined borings were drilled and sampled. Sampling to 32 concrete locations and two piezometers (pressure devices) in the sub-slab gravel were installed to help with the remediation of C-400.
R-114 is a refrigerant more commonly known as Freon and was used to support uranium enrichment operations. The Paducah Site continues activities to remove and dispose of R-114 refrigerant, which not only eliminates hazardous materials but also provides environmental benefits equivalent to the removal of thousands of vehicles off the road. Approximately 3 million pounds of refrigerant remain at Paducah, and PPPO is working to eliminate this ozone-depleting greenhouse gas in the near future.
Over the next several years, PPPO will continue to work with federal and state regulators on a Record of Decision (ROD) to make a final waste disposal decision in Paducah. This effort will require about four years of site field investigation to collect the necessary information to confirm suitability for a representative location and to complete design work details to support a ROD by 2029. PPPO will further need to gain approvals from the Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility Federal Review Group (LFRG) to begin field work. If approval is granted, PPPO will initiate design activities in this timeframe, with a goal of first waste emplacement by fiscal year 2032.
Paducah continues to incorporate lessons learned from the deactivation and demolition of the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Portsmouth, Ohio, gaseous diffusion plants, which are decades ahead of Paducah on the cleanup path. Those plants shut down production many years prior to Paducah, which was the last operating plant of its kind in 2013.
By the Numbers
From square feet of buildings demolished to gallons of groundwater treated and more, check out By the Numbers for the Paducah Site.