A western Kentucky site was among the four tabbed by the Department of Energy Thursday to be potential future homes of “cutting edge data center and energy generation projects.”
Plans are expected to move forward to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure and low-cost energy solutions at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant alongside “private sector partners.” The other DOE facilities slated for potential development are located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and in Idaho and South Carolina.
The DOE release said that the former Paducah uranium enrichment facility and the other three sites were chosen because they were well-suited for large-scale data centers, new power generation and other infrastructure.
This announcement comes after a slew of executive orders from President Donald Trump geared towards “unleashing American energy,” speeding up the permit process for data centers and deploying advanced nuclear technologies for national security – all with the aim of ensuring the country is leading the way in the AI and energy fields.
"By leveraging DOE land assets for the deployment of AI and energy infrastructure, we are taking a bold step to accelerate the next Manhattan Project—ensuring U.S. AI and energy leadership,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in the release. “These sites are uniquely positioned to host data centers as well as power generation to bolster grid reliability, strengthen our national security, and reduce energy costs.”
Trump also issued an executive order this week to prevent the use of “woke AI” in the federal government, something tech industry experts say could result in companies creating "anti-woke" versions of chatbots with fewer safeguards to land lucrative government contracts.
The Paducah site was listed among more than a dozen federally-owned facilities across the U.S. being considered for AI infrastructure development in April.
Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce president Sandra Wilson said developing industry around the former enrichment facility is a long-term goal of her organization.
“We've gotten a lot of interest in the Paducah site. We're now, instead of one of 16 sites on DOE property [under consideration for AI facility developments], we're now one of four. And you know, it's a great potential for us for reindustrialization,” she said.
Bruce Wilcox is the president and CEO of Greater Paducah Economic Development. He said that the western Kentucky city is an “optimal location” for potential projects like this.
“We have unparalleled electrical infrastructure, access to significant amounts of additional natural gas capacity, a strong fiber network, and a strong labor force with a supply chain to grow our labor force even more,” he said in a statement. “We have also designated our community as a nuclear friendly community with a unified vision to be a world leader as we work with prospective nuclear companies from the enrichment process all the way through the supply chain to power generation.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Energy confirmed that the next step for the Paducah site, and the others, is a Request for Proposals (RFP) process intended to solicit potential development plans from private sector partners for each of the facilities. Those solicitations are expected to be released in the coming months, with partners selected by the end of 2025.
