Tour participants stopped for a picture in the C-300 Central Control Facility at the Paducah DOE site during the inaugural community tour on April 23, 2016. 

DOE photo by Dylan Nichols, Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project

PADUCAH, Ky. — For the first time, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting guided public tours of its Paducah Site.  Several tours are being conducted for the public to learn about the history of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.  All eight tours for 2016 filled up quickly, starting with the inaugural tours on April 23.

Some of the participants in the initial tours have been former plant workers like Eugene Waggoner, who is 95 years old and started working at the plant in 1952.

“The scope of the project is amazing,” Waggoner said of the deactivation and remediation work going on at the site.  “The tour was educational and it was a pleasure to come back to see the building I worked in after all of these years.”

During more than 60 years of operation that ended in 2013, the Paducah plant enriched uranium for national defense and later for commercial energy purposes.  The plant has been a significant economic asset to the region and its history is a key part of the area’s heritage.  The plant is currently being prepared by DOE for decontamination and decommissioning while environmental cleanup continues at the site.

"When we planned the community tour program, we were unsure of the interest the tours would generate,” said Jennifer Woodard, DOE Paducah Site Lead.  “We have been delighted with the turnout.  We are pleased that the community is taking an interest in the site’s history and ongoing work.”

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