The United States Department of Energy, under President Donald Trump, has chosen four locations to act as sites for AI Data Centers, and one of those is in Paducah, Kentucky.
According to the Department of Energy, those four sites are the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation and Savannah River Site—this announcement is part of the administration’s plan to accelerate development of Artificial Intelligence infrastructure in the United States as part of a “global AI race”.
The plan is to site and build on Department of Energy Federal land, and hopes to invite private sector partners to develop state-of-the-art data centers and energy generation projects.
Kentucky Senator Amanda Mays Bledsoe Chairs the Kentucky Artificial Intelligence Task Force and calls the selection a recognition of Kentucky’s vital role in advancing the nation into the future of the technology. She says, “This is precisely the kind of opportunity Kentucky has been preparing for. Through the work of the AI Task Force, we’ve taken deliberate steps to get ahead of the curve by crafting a responsible policy framework while also evaluating what it takes to build out the infrastructure AI demands.”
At one time, the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant was used to enrich uranium for commercial reactors and nuclear weaponry, but it is currently being deactivated and undergoing aggressive remediation.
Solicitations for the projects are expected to be released in the coming months and partners could be selected by the end of the year.