PIKETON, Ohio (WCMH) — The U.S. Department of Energy remains committed to its assessment that there is no risk to human health, due to radioactive material, at Zahn’s Corner Middle School.
On Thursday, the DOE issued a statement claiming samples taken from the school revealed no radioactivity above naturally occurring levels.
In response, Scioto Valley Local Schools Board President Brandon Wooldridge issued the following statement:
I want to provide the latest information regarding the contamination at the Zahns Corner School and sampling completed over Memorial Day weekend by DOE.
Today, members of the Scioto Valley Local School District met with our local leaders and representatives of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and the DOE. The purpose was to review the data that was collected by DOE at the end of May.
As we have reported before, we were very concerned with the sampling exercise because DOE rushed the process and failed to obtain agreement among the parties as to purpose (what they were attempting to accomplish with the sampling) and the methods used to analyze the samples.
As a reminder, DOE intended to only take surface samples on areas that are routinely cleaned such as desks and tabletops, which led us to refuse their admittance to the school. We were successful in forcing DOE to expand the sampling to include areas more representative of the actual condition inside the school. We also obtained duplicate samples, as did the ODH. Unfortunately, DOE failed to gain agreement on the methods used to analyze the samples.
As could be expected- DOE, ODH and the local samples were analyzed using differing methods and techniques. And just as predictable, the results were not similar.
So here we sit, inconclusive data results from May and positive results for contamination from the Northern Arizona University sampling and analysis revealed in April. That is exactly why we took the proactive step to close the Zahn’s Corner School for at least the next year until we can have confidence that we know how much contamination is present and — more importantly — that we can ensure our children and staff are provided a safe and healthy environment to teach and learn.
Which now leads to my final point. The importance of the independent, third-party sampling and analysis effort cannot be higher. We will support the efforts of the Pike County Health District to contract the independent assessment to understand the level and extent of contamination in our community. The schools and community deserve to know what is in our environment from the A-Plant. Once this next step is complete, we all can make decisions for our collective well-being.
Rest assured, we will insist that DOE control their radioactive releases and that no one will occupy the Zahn’s Corner School until we are certain it is safe and our children and staff have no greater risk of exposure than any child in any other school in Ohio.
They went back to the states and other places in Ohio where they came from. They left the community once again to fight for what’s right.
On Friday, the DOE issued the following response Wooldridge and the board:
“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fully stands behind its assessment, methodology, and final results from the sampling performed at the Zahn’s Corner Middle School in Piketon, Ohio, over Memorial Day weekend. At the request of the Ohio Governor’s office and to address local residents’ concerns over potential health risks, DOE expeditiously sent an elite team of health physicists from its national laboratories and its National Nuclear Security Administration to investigate and ascertain conditions at the school.
This team performed extensive surface and air sampling in full accordance with standard industry practice for contamination survey. Representatives from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and the local community participated and were embedded in each of the sampling teams, and, at the request of the local community and school representatives, DOE went beyond standard protocols to accommodate additional locations chosen by these representatives. As of result of the final testing and overall assessment, DOE determined there is no public health or safety risks from radioactive material at the Zahn’s Corner Middle School.
Savannah River National Laboratory performed DOE’s sampling analysis using industry-standard procedures. DOE provided its sampling and methodology to both the Ohio Department of Health and Pike County representatives, with the understanding that all three parties would perform similar analyses to allow for a true “apples to apples to apples” comparison of results. DOE’s results and analysis of its samples are consistent with those from the Ohio Department of Health.
Pike County representatives chose a unilaterally-determined and unverified analysis approach that neglected to test for all potential radioactive risks in the school, contrary to the Department of Energy and Ohio Department of Health’s standard and internationally-recognized risk assessment.
DOE is committed to ensuring that local residents near the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Site are well informed and in an effort to provide full transparency, the Department of Energy will hold public meetings with the community in early August to discuss our sampling methodology and results. In addition, DOE will continue to support and welcome the independent, third-party sampling effort being conducted by Pike County.”
School leaders closed Zahn’s Corner Middle School in May, when independent testing revealed trace amounts of enriched uranium in the building. A US Department of Energy air monitor adjacent to the school also detected Neptunium 237.
The middle school sits near the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which produced enriched uranium from 1954 to 2001. The facility is now an environmental cleanup site.
The district said Zahn’s Corner Middle School will remain closed at least through the coming school year.
