LATA Environmental Services has finished cleanup at a warehouse at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant as the Department of Energy prepares to decommission the site.
The nearly 29,000 square foot space held equipment and materials from the facility. The cleanup project began in May 2014 and was accelerated after receiving additional federal funds early last year.
“Every week the team has exceeded the goal of safely removing, characterizing, and packaging the waste for shipment,” Jerome Ellington, LATA’s manager for much of the project, said in a press release.
Contractors say enough waste was removed to cover a high school basketball court piled six feet high.
LATA started work this month on treating groundwater contamination on two acres at the site with deep soil mixing, using an auger to mix the soil 60 feet down. Workers will then inject steam into the auger, evaporating and removing contaminants. Contractors say the cleanup will require 262 drillings.
