DOE EM Update:

Sept. 26, 2023

The first of three 11,300-gallon nitrogen storage tanks no longer in use at the Paducah Site is lowered onto a flatbed trailer for transfer to the Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization. All three tanks had an estimated recycling value of $15,000 for the organization.

Facility Demolitions Support Community Reuse at Paducah Site

PADUCAH, Ky. – EM transferred more than 180,000 pounds of reusable and recyclable materials recovered during the demolition process for 16 unused, outdated facilities at the Paducah Site over the past year to a local community reuse organization.

The Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization (PACRO), in turn, uses the transferred property or proceeds from its sale to attract new jobs to the community.

“The demolition of these smaller facilities allows us to quickly identify equipment and recyclable material to transfer to PACRO, decreasing maintenance cost for DOE and providing PACRO with potential funding opportunities,” Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Joel Bradburne said.

EM worked with PACRO to transfer approximately 50,000 pounds of metal recovered during the demolition process and three 11,300-gallon nitrogen storage tanks weighing 45,000 pounds each. The tanks had an estimated recycling value of $15,000 for PARCO.

The EM project team completed demolition of the 16 facilities ahead of schedule and under budget, allowing the site to complete the teardown of an additional facility before the end of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Office trailers, storage facilities and equipment-support housings were among the facilities demolished this fiscal year. Work will soon begin on an additional 11 facilities for demolition for the next fiscal year.

“There are over 500 facilities at the Paducah Site,” said Myrna Redfield, program manager of Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the site’s deactivation and remediation contractor. “Removing facilities no longer needed enables us to focus our time and resources on the long-term mission of the site.”

The effort is one of many under an agreement with PACRO, EM’s designated community reuse organization for the Kentucky counties of McCracken, Ballard, Marshall, and Graves, and Massac County in Illinois.

As the cleanup program dismantles four massive electrical switchyards at the site, the recycling of recovered materials and components supports local economic development while reducing or offsetting the site's cleanup costs. The Paducah Site also transferred approximately 210,000 gallons of electrical insulating oil from the C-531 Switchyard to PARCO.

-Contributor: Dylan Nichols