Site Overview

The Paducah site was part of the Kentucky Ordnance Works, a World War II era munitions plant. In October 1950, the Atomic Energy Commission picked the KOW site for the second of three planned uranium enrichments plants.

Construction began in 1951 and completed in 1954 at a cost of $800 million. The first enriched uranium was shipped in 1952.

During the 1970s, the federal government upgraded or rebuilt substantial portions of the facility at a cost of $600 million.

The U.S. Department of Energy operated the plant until the Energy Policy Act of 1992 created the United States Enrichment Corporation to take over the Paducah and Portsmouth plants.

The DOE site today consists of 3,420 with lease/license agreements in place for USEC (the operating area of the plant) and the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area (WKWMA), which borders the plant on three sides.