By Angela Hatton
Paducah, KY – A Southern Illinois man has been granted a partial victory in an open records request submitted to the University of Kentucky. Environmentalist Mark Donham requested the University of Kentucky turn over documents and the names of participants in study of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment is tasked with developing long-range plans for the plant and surrounding area. The results of that two-year study are due out this fall. Donham claimed in a meeting May 4, researchers stopped him from keeping renderings of some of the future options, including images of a possible nuclear power plant. The Attorney General's office ruled because the images did not have nondisclosure restrictions, researchers should provide Donham with the copies he requested. The Attorney General also ruled the identity of study participants is private under Kentucky statutes, and denied Donhams request for a list of their names. The University of Kentucky has the chance to appeal the ruling, but officials have not decided whether to do so.