PADUCAH, Ky. – As EM took control of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) facilities from its commercial lease in 2014, the PGDP Deactivation Project began under EM’s recently selected prime contractor.

   At the same time, major ongoing groundwater cleanup and removal of inactive Cold War-era facilities continued under the site’s environmental remediation program.

Plant Deactivation

   Oct. 21 marked the day EM officially received the PGDP from Centrus Energy, Inc. (formerly United States Enrichment Corporation), and Fluor Federal Services, Inc. (FFS) began operations under its three-year deactivation contract.

   FFS’s scope includes optimizing the site’s utilities and infrastructure to support reduced operations and energy needs, facility surveillance and maintenance, deactivation, and waste management. Deactivation involves removing radioactive and hazardous materials from process equipment, shutting down facility systems, and de-energizing equipment in preparation for future decontamination and decommissioning (D&D).

   The electrical distribution system at the plant was designed and built to reliably supply large amounts of power for enrichment operations. Because that capacity is no longer needed, one project is focused on minimizing power costs by ensuring the electrical system is appropriately sized.

Groundwater Remediation

   As part of the ongoing cleanup of the Paducah site’s leading source of groundwater contamination, EM’s Paducah remediation contractor, LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky LLC, used an electrical resistance heating system (ERH) to remove 1,129 gallons of trichloroethene (TCE), an industrial degreaser, from the top 60 feet of soil near an equipment cleaning building. Its regulatory objectives having been met, the treatment system is being taken out of commission after operating from July 2013 to October 2014.

   To date, EM has used ERH to remove nearly 3,600 gallons of TCE and related chemicals from the ground near the cleaning building. In 2015, EM plans to test the effectiveness of using steam to remove TCE from 60 to 100 feet below ground in the same area.

   Also in 2014, workers completed preparation activities to remedy a major source of onsite TCE groundwater contamination through deep-soil mixing. In 2015, LATA Kentucky will use an eight-foot-diameter auger to mix soil to a depth of about 60 feet in the cleanup zone located in the southwestern part of the site’s fenced area. Steam will be injected through the auger to remove TCE which will be recovered at the surface and captured in a treatment system. Following steam treatment, iron will be injected into the treatment area to degrade any residual TCE in the soil.

   “We made significant progress over the past year in our ongoing mission of cleaning up the Paducah site to protect human health and the environment,” said Jennifer Woodard, Paducah site lead for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office.

Inactive Facilities Removal

   In spring and summer 2014, heavy equipment was used to demolish nearly two-thirds of an old building known as the Feed Plant, which operated from 1957 to 1977 to produce uranium hexafluoride and fluorine. The section demolished in 2014 had a footprint roughly equivalent to a football field. The rest of the building, which is seven stories high, is expected to be demolished in 2015.

   Also in 2014, equipment and debris were removed by LATA Kentucky from two sections of an old warehouse on the north side of the plant. The materials included fork trucks, floor sweepers, welders, and machine shop equipment. The roughly 38,500 cubic feet of material removed would compare to a high school basketball court with debris piled about nine feet high. Waste was shipped to a commercial disposal facility.