Paducah’s Nuclear Revival Marks Turning Point For US Energy

Paducah, Kentucky, is reemerging as the epicenter of America’s nuclear resurgence with a $1.5 billion investment to build the country’s first new commercial uranium enrichment facility in over a decade.

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced in a Tuesday press release that it will lease a 100-acre parcel of federal land at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to General Matter — a California-based uranium enrichment company — for the construction of the new facility.

General Matter CEO Scott Nolan told the West Kentucky Star that “at one point during the Cold War, ninety percent of all uranium enriched in the world was enriched in the U.S. — much of it in Paducah.”

“Now, less than one percent is enriched in America,” Nolan added, “but that will change with this project.”

While Paducah’s new enrichment facility marks a major milestone, the U.S. still faces a critical gap in the nuclear fuel cycle. The country currently has no operating uranium conversion facilities, the essential refining step that must occur before enrichment.

“Currently, almost all the uranium used in US commercial reactors is imported,” a 2024 report from the World Nuclear Association stated.

The move is part of a broader initiative under President Donald Trump’s “nuclear renaissance” executive orders he signedin May, which aim to expand American nuclear energy capacity from about 100 gigawatts today to 400 gigawatts by 2050, according to Michael Kratsios, Trump’s Science and Technology Advisor.

“The President has called for industry to start mining and enriching uranium in America again, as well as an expansion of domestic uranium conversion capacity,” Kratsios wrote, underscoring the administration’s push to rebuild the full nuclear fuel cycle within the U.S. without relying on foreign imports.

“Leveraging the resources of the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, including its skilled nuclear workforce and existing infrastructure, is unlocking private funding and fast-tracking commercial licensing activities,” DOE Office of Environmental Management Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Roger Jarrell said in an official statement.

The new Paducah facility is projected to create approximately 140 high-wage jobs and generate an estimated $71 million in annual local economic activity, according to a Tuesday press release from the City of Paducah. The facility could also help save around $800 million in federal legacy material disposal costs while helping reduce U.S. dependence on imported uranium for commercial reactors, according to the DOE’s press release.

Republican Kentucky Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, and Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joined DOE and General Matter officials at the announcement ceremony on site, where they took part in a ceremonial groundbreaking, The West Kentucky Star reported.

According to the outlet, Nolan said the project was finalized in just four months, crediting close coordination among federal, state, and local officials. He added that Paducah was chosen because the community demonstrated unified and active support for the initiative.

General Matter’s construction is expected to begin in 2026 with uranium enrichment operations planned to begin by the end of the decade.