The Energy Department will repurpose a retired uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky, into a massive artificial intelligence data center campus, the third time the Trump administration has turned to Cold War-era federal land to quicken its AI buildout. The $100 billion project, announced Wednesday, will include 2 gigawatts of natural gas power and 2.6 gigawatts of battery storage.
Paducah site gets a new mission
The project will be privately funded through a partnership with NextEra Energy, the investment firm Brookfield, and several local utilities. The federal site has been undergoing environmental cleanup for years, and the Energy Department said the development would not require direct taxpayer spending. Department officials noted that one gigawatt of gas can power roughly 750,000 homes.
Expanding the federal AI footprint
The Paducah announcement follows two similar efforts. In March, the Energy Department revealed plans to repurpose parts of a former nuclear enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio, for a 10-gigawatt data center, mostly powered by natural gas and financed partly by Japan. This month, the department's National Nuclear Security Administration said it would work with the engineering firm Amentum to explore a 1-gigawatt data center, potentially powered by gas and nuclear power, at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a federal complex once devoted to making plutonium for nuclear weapons.
"The U.S. government is leveraging its assets - like our federal lands - to add power generation, create jobs, and ensure the United States wins the A.I. race," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
Why this matters for government professionals
The administration's strategy draws federal agencies directly into the physical buildout of AI infrastructure. The Paducah project will require coordination between the Energy Department's environmental cleanup program, private developers, and local utilities. The Piketon site aims for 10 gigawatts of capacity, and the Savannah River project layers in nuclear power possibilities. For federal program managers, the trend signals a growing need to manage energy policy, environmental remediation, and technology development within a single portfolio. Understanding how these domains intersect will become a practical requirement for the officials overseeing such projects.
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