PIKETON, Ohio (WCMH) — The Department of Energy says there is no safety risk from radioactive material preventing Zahns Corner Middle School from opening this fall. The school district claims the results of testing is still inconclusive.
Zahn’s Corner Middle School was closed in May after testing revealed the presence of enriched uranium inside the school.
The school is near the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which produced enriched uranium from 1954 until 2001. The former plant is currently the site of a radioactive cleanup effort.
Samples were taken from the school on May 25 for further testing.
According to the Department of Energy, that testing revealed no radioactivity above naturally occurring levels, and thus no cause for public health concern. They say there is no safety risk preventing the school from opening this fall.
The Department of Energy (DOE) in response to community concerns deployed an elite team of certified health physicists from DOE’s national laboratories and the National Nuclear Security Administration to conduct the investigation at Zahn’s Corner Middle School, accompanied by representatives of the Ohio Department of Health and interested members of the Piketon community. The team of radiation safety experts collected 44 surface samples over the Memorial Day weekend, including specific areas requested by the community to be tested. Air samples also were collected from both inside and outside the school.
DOE Principal Deputy Press Secretary Kelly Love
Results from sample analyses conducted by experts at Savannah River National Laboratory show no radioactivity detected above naturally occurring levels, and thus no cause for public health concern. These findings are consistent with independent analysis results from the Ohio Department of Health.
There is no public health or safety risk from radioactive material preventing Zahn’s Corner Middle School from opening this fall. The Department at each step conducted its investigation in a thorough and transparent process. Its experts, who conduct radiological investigations around the world, employed proven industry standards in gathering and analyzing the samples. DOE is committed to the safety, health and protection of our workforce, the general public and the environment at all our sites.
Scioto Valley Local School Board President Brandon Wooldridge is skeptical of the testing methods used to reach this conclusion. For instance, he points out that the DOE took surface samples from desks that had already been wiped down.
He says he will wait to decide on reopening the school until an independent assessment is made through the Pike County Health District.
I want to provide the latest information regarding the contamination at the Zahns Corner School and sampling completed over Memorial Day weekend by DOE.
Board President Brandon Wooldridge:
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 Zahns 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 Zahns 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 left went back to the states and other places in Ohio where they came from The left the community once again to fight for what’s right
