Members of the Paducah Site’s citizens advisory board (CAB) recently visited one of EM’s two plants that convert depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to more stable compounds.
Zak Lafontaine, EM’s DUF6 program manager, led the tour and was accompanied by Jim Barker, program director for Mid-America Conversion Services (MCS), at the DUF6 conversion facility at the Paducah Site. MCS is EM’s DUF6 operations and maintenance contractor.
The tour served as a follow-up to a June board meeting where CAB members received an update on the recently restarted operations at the conversion facility.
The visit allowed board members to view DUF6 facility operations and see improvements and upgrades made during the COVID-19 shutdown. Throughout the tour, CAB members gained insight into how the facility converts the stored DUF6 into depleted uranium oxide, saw firsthand how the process works, step-by-step, and experienced an up-close look at the equipment used at the facility.
The CAB is comprised of up to 15 individuals from McCracken, Graves, Ballard and Marshall counties in Kentucky and Massac County in Illinois. Volunteer members can serve up to three consecutive two-year terms. Members represent a diverse group of interests within the community, such as business, academia, labor, local government, the environment, as well as the general public. Additionally, the board has liaisons from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Citizens Advisory Board is a federally chartered board that provides advice to EM on environmental remediation and future use of the Paducah Site. The board meets the third Thursday of every month at 5:30 p.m.
For more information about the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant CAB, contact the CAB office at 270-554-3004. The public is encouraged to attend the meetings to hear updates from EM’s Paducah Site cleanup project.
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