Opinion ID: 1435262
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant

Text: The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) is a government-owned, contractor-operated uranium enrichment facility located in McCracken County, Kentucky, approximately ten miles west of Paducah, on 3,425 acres, 750 of which are within a security fence. Although there is no single exhibit in the record that accurately details the PGDP boundaries or the Appellants' properties in relation to the plant boundaries, there is a schematic which provides a general overview. See J.A. at 380. PGDP is the only operating uranium enrichment facility in the United States. [1] The plant was designed to enrich natural and recycled uranium for use in domestic and foreign commercial power reactors. The plant was constructed in the early 1950s and its operations began in 1952. Over its more than 50-year operating lifetime, the plant has enriched more than one million tons of uranium. Defendant-Appellee Carbide and Chemicals Corporation (now Union Carbide Corporation) was the original site contractor and operated the plant for the Atomic Energy Commission from the beginning of operations in 1952 until March 31, 1984. Defendant-Appellee Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. (formerly Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.) replaced Carbide and Chemicals Corporation as the operating contractor effective April 1, 1984, and continued its operations until June 30, 1993. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 created the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), one of the first steps in the process of privatizing the government's uranium enrichment enterprises. On July 1, 1993, USEC leased portions of PGDP from the Department of Energy, assumed responsibility for uranium enrichment activities, and contracted with Defendant-Appellee Lockheed Martin Utility Services, Inc. (formerly Martin Marietta Utility Services, Inc.) for operation and maintenance of enrichment activities. Lockheed Martin Utility Services, Inc. operated the facility between July 1, 1993 and May 17, 1999. USEC assumed direct operation of PGDP in May 1999 and continues to operate the plant today.