Data centers need massive power. They’re eyeing Kentucky’s idle industrial sites to get it.

By: Liam Niemeyer

Outlets: Kentucky Lantern

Published: August 3, 2026

Words: 1,651

Last Updated: 11 hours, 20 minutes ago

Paducah Mayor George Bray calls the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in McCracken County the ideal site for a hyperscale data center.

When the plant was enriching uranium, initially for the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons and then for nuclear power plant fuel, it had the ability to use over 3 gigawatts of power and used 26 million gallons of water a day.

“When we enriched uranium there, all the infrastructure around …

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