Work crews are cutting trees and clearing land to prepare for construction of two modern uranium enrichment projects at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, DOE said last week.
About 100 acres of land are being cleared at Paducah to make way or an enrichment plant planned by California-based nuclear technology startup, General Matter, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Feb. 3 press release.
In the same release, the DOE nuclear cleanup office said Global Laser Enrichment, a company building a laser uranium enrichment facility on land adjacent to the Paducah Site, is also clearing trees ahead of constructing its facility.
In August 2025, General Matter announced it has signed a lease with DOE to build a $1.5-billion enrichment plant that would employ 140 people.
Global Laser Enrichment has applied for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license for a plant at Paducah. Global Laser Enrichment hopes to start re-enriching DOE’s Paducah inventory of depleted uranium tails by 2030,