DOE Oil Transfer Fuels Development in Western KY

Continued deactivation of the Paducah Department of Energy site has led to a little extra income for PACRO.

The site recently transferred more than 300,000 gallons of electrical insulating oil from the site’s C-533 Switchyard to Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization. They will use the oil, transported in 12 tank cars, to provide a revenue stream for economic development in the Kentucky counties of McCracken, Ballard, Marshall, and Graves, and Massac County in Illinois.

“The sale of this oil, which can be reused or recycled, is a big boost to economic development efforts in western Kentucky,” PACRO Chairperson and Marshall County Judge-Executive Kevin Neal said. “We are fortunate to have a partnership with the Department of Energy that allows us to generate revenue from excess property and equipment for future uses within our five-county organization.”

The oil was drained as part of the deactivation of the switchyard, which was one of four that were used during peak uranium-enrichment operations. Power entered the plant through overhead transmission lines from the TVA's Shawnee Fossil Plant and the Joppa Steam Plant in Massac County. It could then be routed through one of more than 90 oil-filled circuit breakers to oil-filled transformers in the switchyards. Any one of those transformers could handle the total power load of the city of Paducah. Combined, the switchyards combined could power a city as large as Nashville, Tennessee.

Power needs at the Paducah DOE site have reduced significantly since enrichment operations ceased in 2013 and a power reconfiguration project completed in 2015 consolidated the entire plant onto one switchyard. Plans are underway to construct a new substation to allow deactivation of the last original switchyard.