Federal help sought to move school
Just a week into the school year, with Zahn’s Corner Middle School students crammed in elementary and high schools, a letter has been drafted in hopes of securing federal funding to rebuild the school at a new location.
That’s because since the decommissioning and cleanup of a former uranium enrichment plant was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Energy started in 2017, there have been radioactive iosotopes detected at the school located two miles downwind from the facility.
“While the levels are debatable, there is very little question that the presence of these dangerous contaminants are not ’natural’, nor can they be attributed to ’background’ radiation,“wrote Wes Hairston, superintendent of Scioto Valley Local School District in a letter to DOE Secretary Dan Brouillette dated Thursday.
“The community, including the County Health Department, is extremely concerned with the continuation of the construction and on-site disposal near the middle school. The continuation of work on this site will most certainly emit more of these dangerous elements into the air and into the school.”
The DOE has issued numerous statements about the former plant, located 73 miles south of Columbus, saying that numerous tests “show results significantly below regulatory safety limits and no radioactivity detected above naturally occurring levels.” They have said the school and community are safe. The DOE did not respond to a request to comment when asked about the letter.
The letter comes after The Dispatch reported on DOE Secretary Brouillette’s visit to Columbus. At the time, Brouillette told The Dispatch, “We stand ready to assist the school system in any way that they would see fit. Our door remains open.”
“We appreciate your willingness to provide support, as suggested in your recent response to a question posed by a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch,” Hairston told Brouillette in the letter.
The middle school was closed by the district in May 2019 after neptunium-237, a radioactive isotope, was detected by DOE air monitors across the street from the school.
Enriched uranium was detected inside the school’s air ducts and ceiling tiles during an inspection.
The district was not made aware of the isotopes detected in 2017 until two years later. That’s the same year cleanup efforts began at the plant. This year, DOE disclosed a 2018 detection of americium, another radioactive isotope, according to the school district.
In late July, DOE released its mostrecent annual environmental assessment report where the federal agency summarizes and provides results of thousands of tests.
The levels in the report were “well below the levels at which you have to take action to protect the public,” David C. Ingram, chair of the physics and astronomy department at Ohio University who specializes in nuclear science, said in a recent interview.
Despite the figures cited in the report and DOE’S assurances, the community has every right to be concerned about exposure though, Ingram added. That’s because the annual report uses averages.
“One analogy I use is that if I was to put a small piece of radioactive material in the corner of a big field, very close to that piece of radioactive material it could be a hazard, particularly if somebody picked it up, or breathed it in,“he said. “Whereas I could take all that material and spread it across the field and come up with a number which is well below causing concern.”
When asked about using averages, DOE said in a statement: “The annual dose calculations in (environmental reports) are based on the worst-case exposure scenario for a member of the public. The maximum concentrations of radionuclides detected in various media (e.g., sediment, soil, vegetation, etc.) were used in dose calculations even if these media-specific maximum concentrations do not occur throughout the year or even at the same location. DOE’S conservative approach fairly assesses any risk to the community.”
A third-party assessment funded by DOE is still pending. It could be another year before that study is completed. That study will include samples on both public and private property inside a six-mile radius from the plant.
There is no such thing as a safe level for radioactive isotopes, said Jennifer
Chandler, a former environmental scientist who worked for DOE and is now a village council member in Piketon.
“Even though (DOE) may say, `We don’t think the levels are high enough.’ There's no `such thing as a safe level,” Chandler said.
The school district is already petitioning the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission in hopes of getting land to build a new middle school with the state’s help. They have not been given an answer on their request.
Some state and federal offices are waiting for those third-party study results before taking action to help the community.
“My office is working with the community, the state of Ohio, the Department of Energy and outside experts to help however we can,” said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in a released statement in response to questions. “DOE has a responsibility to show that ongoing work at the site doesn’t present a public health risk to the community or the workforce on site.”
When the Ohio Democrat’s office was pressed about whether he will push to fund a new school, the following statement was issued: “Sen. Brown shares the concerns of the community and looks forward to reviewing the third-party assessment on Zahn’s Corner Middle School.”
A spokesman for Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine, Dan Tierney, had a similar response. “We are awaiting the results of the third-party testing before any decisions are made.”
In the meantime, students at Zahn’s Corner continue to wait.
“This problem was not created by our school district. And our district does not have the financial means, or the moral imperative to solve it,” Hairston wrote Brouillette. bburger@dispatch.com @Bybethburger