Atomic City reborn with $1.5 billion investment from General Matter

Paducah’s moniker of "Atomic City" has been reborn with the latest announcement of development at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in western McCracken County.

General Matter, a privately funded company based in California, announced on Tuesday that it plans to invest $1.5 billion to build the first commercial uranium enrichment facility in the United States. The project on the Department of Energy site would effectively restart enrichment on property that fueled America’s nuclear energy and defense for over sixty years.

Enriched uranium from the facility will fuel power plants, producing energy for advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence data centers like the one planned for another part of the D.O.E. site.

The project is expected to produce about 140 jobs when complete, with pay and benefits described as “life-changing.”  Economic impact from this facility would be about $71 million annually, according to  Greater Paducah Economic Development.

General Matter CEO Scott Nolan said the lease of land from the Department of Energy is for “multiple decades.” The original plant was built in a year and began enriching uranium in 1952. Nolan noted that at one point during the Cold War, ninety percent of all uranium enriched in the world was enriched in the U.S.-much of it in Paducah. Now, less than one percent is enriched in America, but that will change with this project.

Nolan said that Paducah was selected because of federal, state, and local community leaders coming together to support the project. He noted Paducah’s history of leadership in enrichment and praised leaders for wanting to make Paducah a leader again. He said it would be hard work, but the plan is to be online by the end of the decade.

In addition to local impact, Roger Jarrell, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, said the plant is expected to save some $800 million in disposal costs by using legacy materials already on the site. It could save taxpayers another $500 million as the U.S will not be purchasing uranium from foreign interests.

Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, along with Congressman James Comer and Governor Andy Beshear, joined DOE and General Matter officials in the announcement at the site. The group ceremonially broke ground on the project, which came together in about four months from concept to agreement.

Comer said the Paducah announcement is such a big deal that it’s the first time during his nine years in Washington that he and both U.S. Senators, plus the Governor, were all at an announcement celebrating the same thing in a bipartisan way.

Governor Beshear noted that this is the largest economic investment in western Kentucky, ever.

Comer said, “I believe with all my heart that west Kentucky is going to be the energy capital of this new energy economy, and today is the first step. This community has worked hard, and I think this is just the beginning.”


Photo courtesy of Congressman James Comer's Office