RETRO REPORT: Radioactive material found in Piketon Middle School
Photo via: Adam.iaizzi, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
On his tour through Southern Ohio last month, Senator Sherrod Brown announced the securing of $20 million for a new middle school in Piketon, Ohio. Zahn’s Corner Middle School shut down in 2019 due to the discovery of radioactive material within the building. Since then, the community in Piketon has lacked a middle school for over five years, only now being awarded funding for a new school due to the government funding law passed in 2023.
It all started in May 2019, when the Scioto Valley Local School District Board of Education learned that the U.S. Department of Energy air monitoring stations across the street from the Zahn's Corner Middle School detected the presence of radioactive material.
According to the Scioto Valley Local School’s website, “The U.S. Department of Energy asserted that this material originated from the 1950s-1960s ‘stratospheric fallout’ from atmospheric nuclear tests and that the contamination levels detected at Zahn's Corner Middle School fell below its own established thresholds for posing a serious risk to human health.” The cause of the radioactive material, however, was speculated by Northern Arizona University to originate from enriched uranium from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, located roughly five miles away from the school, according to WOUB.
This discovery alarmed the local community, as well as school officials, prompting the immediate closure of Zahn's Corner Middle School. The Scioto Valley Local School District, facing a public health crisis, worked closely with federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, immediately after this discovery to assess the extent of the contamination.
The situation only affirmed a long-running association between the plant and health issues occuring in the area. According to the Scioto Valley Guardian, five cases of childhood cancer were reported in the Piketon area; three of the affected children passed away. The Pike County General Health District advised against consuming produce from gardens within six miles of the plant. Additionally, soil samples from nearby have tested positive for plutonium and technetium.
Senator Sherrod Brown became a vocal advocate for the community. He consistently called for robust federal oversight and transparency from the DOE regarding cleanup efforts at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which had been decommissioned since the Cold War era, but continued to pose community health risks.
“This isn’t just about a building,” Brown remarked at the 2023 announcement of the funding. “This is about justice for a community that’s been overlooked for too long. The people of Piketon deserve answers, and more importantly, they deserve action.”
Piketon’s struggle highlights broader issues about the impact of nuclear energy projects on rural communities and the long-term responsibilities of federal agencies in ensuring the health and safety of these populations. Of course, just last year, the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio left residents with major health concerns, as well as local contamination of water, and the death of much livestock in the area. However, due to the disaster's large impact on the environment and local health, the federal government was quick to intervene and provide wide-scale support to the community.
For Piketon, though, its new middle school is expected to open its doors in 2025, offering a fresh start for students. Yet, the fight for justice and transparency regarding the Portsmouth plant continues. Residents remain hopeful that a new chapter, symbolized by the school’s construction, will also mark a turning point in the government's response to rural communities' needs and concerns.