In the next installment of Sounds Good's Cyber Bytes series, Tracy Ross and Dr. Michael Ramage, director of Murray State's Cyber Education and Research Center, discuss the growing local AI debate following the late July 2026 announcement of a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Brookfield, NextEra Energy, Big Rivers Electric Power Corporation, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative, and Paducah Power System to create a data center campus on portons of DOE's Paducah Site, which was previously used for enriching uranium.
Ramage compared data centers to server computers that often sat in the corner of most offices. These computers contained accounting software, file servers, and other data collections that maintained smooth office operations. Today, this data is stored in the Cloud. Instead of being stored on an on-site computer, this Cloud data is processed in an AI data center. "It's safer, more secure, [and] more accessible," Dr. Ramage explained.
The cybersecurity educator then raised major talking points about AI data centers, including potential impacts on the local power grid. Ramage said that based on the information shared at a press conference in Paducah following the DOE announcement, Western Kentucky would have little impact on local power grids. If anything, Ramage said, there would be a positive impact, as the local data center would provide more power to the grid through a White House-outlined power-back initiative.
Ramage mentioned environmental concerns, like water and soil pollution. He said that because the data center is located on the Ohio River, there is a large supply of water from which the center can draw. Additionally, closed-loop water systems significantly reduce water consumption by reusing old resources. Speaking of potential soil pollution, Ramage said that concrete slabs can help. The environmental impact, Ramage said, is "projected to be pretty small."
"I have the opinion, and this may be controversial, that there's no place better in this country [for a data center] to be located than this DOE site," Ramage said. He cited the previous uranium enrichment that happened at the facility, using it as evidence that the new data center will already be outfitted to address environmental concerns. He also said that because there is considerable space between residential housing and the facility, noise pollution will also make a smaller impact. "If ever there was a place that was made for it, it may be here."
Ramage added that in other areas of the state, the property taxes accumulated by the data center will translate to thousands of extra dollars per public school student. "I think there are different ways to address it, and I think in Paducah, at least to my knowledge of what's going on, it's being addressed the right way."
To read more "Cyber Bytes" stories, click here. To find out more information about Murray State's Cyber Education and Research Center, visit its website.
