PADUCAH, Ky. – The 2000 edition of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) is now available.

The document provides background information and a yearly review of the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental restoration program at the Paducah facility. The ASER, or a similar report, has been published each year since 1952.

During 2000, more than 1,000 soil, sediment, water and air samples taken in and around the plant were used to compile the ASER. Results reported in the 2000 document are consistent with those reported in 1999.

Some highlights from the document:

• The theoretical maximum radiation dose any person could have received in 2000 from exposure to contaminants linked to the plant was 1.9 milirem. That is about one-fifth the radiation in a typical chest X-ray. It also is less than 1 percent of radiation dose the average person in the United States receives each year and under 2 percent of the regulatory limit.

• Uranium in surface water discharges is slightly below the 5-year average and remains a tiny fraction of allowed levels (less than 1 microgram/liter compared to the limit of 600).

The highest readings for tricholoroethylene and Tc-99 found remained consistent with previous years. Those levels, while well above drinking water standards, were found in the center of the plant in groundwater that is not being consumed by any people or animals. The readings were recorded in monitoring wells sunk into the center of large contaminant sources in an effort to locate those sources.

• For the first time, PCBs were found in deer in the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area, which adjoins the plant. The levels found in fat taken from the deer were extremely low. The maximum amount found in any of the deer was 146 parts per billion. The Food and Drug Administration allows up to 3,000 parts per billion in red meat. A lower detection limit was used in 2000, and more fat was available to analyze.

• Technetium-99 (a radioactive isotope) in surface water remains around the 5-year average. The recorded levels of about 35 pCi/L compare to the allowed level of 900 pCi/L.

The ASER does not cover ongoing operations of the uranium enrichment plant, which is leased and operated by the United States Enrichment Corp.

Copies of the ASER are available at the DOE Environmental Information Center (EIC), 115 Memorial Drive in the Barkley Centre. The Barkley Centre is located across from Paducah Community College off Alben Barkley Drive (Blandville Road). The EIC is open Monday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Tuesday from noon-6 p.m.; and Wednesday from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., except during the week of the second Saturday. During the week of the second Saturday, the EIC is open from 2-6 p.m. on Wednesday and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. For more information about the EIC, call the center at (270) 554-6979.

Copies also are available for review at the McCracken County Public Library, 5^th and Washington streets, in downtown Paducah.

You may request a copy be mailed to you by calling Greg Cook at (270) 441-5023.

-DOE-

R-01-047