The U.S Department of Energy is exploring the possibility of building artificial intelligence data centers and infrastructure at 16 federally owned sites, including the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in far western Kentucky.
The DOE’s announcement builds on President Donald Trump’s executive order, issued in January, to “sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”
“The global race for AI dominance is the next Manhattan project, and with President Trump’s leadership and the innovation of our National Labs, the United States can and will win,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a DOE release. “The Department of Energy is taking important steps to leverage our domestic resources to power the AI revolution, while continuing to deliver affordable, reliable and secure energy to the American people.”
A governmental Request For Information (RFI) put out late last week announced the agency was considering the former Paducah plant and over a dozen other DOE facilities as potential building sites for AI data center and infrastructure construction.
The western Kentucky facility was a nuclear power plant built in 1952 that produced enriched uranium – first for the United States’ nuclear weapons program, and then later for nuclear fuel for commercial power plants – until its closure in 2013. Federal efforts to clean up the site are projected to cost $17 billion and be complete by 2065.
Through the RFI, the DOE hopes to get input from companies and the public on potential future developments. That includes seeking “information on potential development approaches, technology solutions, operational models, and economic considerations associated with establishing AI infrastructure on DOE sites.”
The department stated it was also looking to hear from grid operators – who already serve DOE sites – on any opportunities or challenges related to the project.
This new AI infrastructure would include, according to the DOE, “AI data centers, which contain specialized Information Technology (IT) equipment and associated cooling facilities, as well as their energy supply, including sources of generation, such as nuclear energy, and transmission and storage.”
Wright has also said that it could be possible for private data companies to use the federal land through lease payments, and that these new data centers could help national laboratories.
Agency officials hope to begin construction at select sites by the end of 2025 and have the data centers operational by the end of 2027.
