Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP)

Paducah, Kentucky 1952 – 2013

The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), located in Paducah, Kentucky, was a uranium enrichment plant that is owned and operated by the United States Department of Energy. In 1952, with 750 acres of fenced and secured land, the plant began operations to provide enriched uranium that was used for military reactors, the nation’s nuclear weapons program, and to fuel nuclear power plants across the county. Although the DOE, EPA, and the Kentucky department for Environmental Protection entered into a Federal Facility Agreement (FFE) in 1998 for site clean up, operations of uranium enrichment continued until 2013. Today, the plant spans over 3,500 acres and serves as waste management, depleted uranium conversion, deactivation and decommissioning, re-industrialization, and long-term stewardship.