Paducah: The Gaseous Diffusion Legacy

Behind the fences stood one of the most ambitious industrial enterprises in American history.

For nearly seventy years, the gaseous diffusion plants at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky; and Portsmouth, Ohio enriched the uranium that fueled America's nuclear arsenal, powered naval reactors, and helped shape the outcome of the Cold War. Hidden behind layers of secrecy, these massive facilities operated around the clock, employing tens of thousands of workers who became the backbone of a...