PADUCAH, Ky. – At 7:01 this morning, EM officially received the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant from the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), a subsidiary of Centrus Energy Corp. In a brief ceremony, EM site lead Jennifer Woodard received a symbolic key to the plant from Centrus Vice President Steve Penrod.

   Fluor Federal Services, Inc. will perform deactivation of the plant and other activities under its contract with EM. Fluor was awarded an approximately $420 million, three-year contract to accept the deleased facilities formerly operated by USEC and conduct deactivation activities to optimize the site’s utilities and infrastructure to support reduced operations and energy needs.

   “Today is a big day for all of those involved in this transition and a significant step forward in the Department’s cleanup mission.” said Woodard. “For over 60 years this plant has served its purpose of enriching uranium for nuclear defense and energy. Now it is time to begin the process for deactivating the plant and preparing for decontamination and decommissioning.”

   Fluor Program Manager Con Murphy said the next three years will bring about significant change at the site.

   “We are pleased to have skilled craftsmen and long-term employees who have significant expertise here at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant,” Murphy said. “Each and every work day will be anchored by the Fluor core values of safety, quality, community, leadership, and collaboration.”

   The project will initially employ approximately 400 people, and Fluor expects to ramp up to approximately 500 employees over the next year, comprised primarily of highly skilled former USEC and LATA-Kentucky workers. This number does not include subcontractors who will also be hired during the project. LATA-Kentucky’s environmental cleanup contract at the site continues until July 2015, after which the remaining environmental cleanup scope will be performed by Fluor.

   The plant is a 3,556-acre federal reservation that was built as part of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, and enriched uranium beginning in 1952. EM’s site missions include deactivation and stabilization, environmental cleanup, waste disposition, depleted uranium conversion, and eventual decontamination and demolition of the plant.

   EM is responsible for cleaning up the nation’s gaseous diffusion buildings in accordance with the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 1992. Besides the decontamination of soil and groundwater at these sites, thousands of buildings and structures must be decontaminated and demolished.