Solutient Technologies is near final approval to start taking air and dust samples at Zahn’s Corner Middle School and other properties near the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, in order to check on potential radiological contamination.
In September, the Canton, Ohio-based radiological services and remediation specialist submitted its final scope of work to the Energy Department, which is financing the independent sampling, Matt Brewster, health commissioner for the Pike County General Health District, said in an Oct. 17 news release. The next step is for the federal agency to finalize the “data quality objectives” of the sampling, he stated.
Sampling can begin once the objectives and a sampling analysis plan are agreed upon by the county, state, and DOE. Samples will be sent to the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Radiological and Environmental Analytical Laboratory in Tennessee for analysis. Some samples will also be sent to a stakeholder-approved lab, Brewster said.
The health official offered no commitment on the schedule for completion of sampling. “This cannot be about how quickly things happen,” Brewster said. “The assessment will be extremely comprehensive and include the testing of schools, public properties, private properties, and waters of the state within an initial 6-mile radius” from the center of the Portsmouth Site.”
The Pike County middle school in May closed early for the summer break, and will remain closed for the entire 2019-2020 academic year.
Northern Arizona University researchers Michael Ketterer, professor emeritus of chemistry and biochemistry, and independent consultant Scott Szechenyi, say dust samples taken at the school over Memorial Day weekend support their earlier findings that enriched uranium is present within indoor dust. The Energy Department says its own tests show no radiation above background levels at Zahn’s Corner Middle School, and no public health risk preventing the school from opening.
The community fallout over the dueling findings led to the ouster in June of Anne Marie White as head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management after agency brass evidently questioned her handling of the situation. The situation also spawned class actions lawsuits in federal court against current and former contractors at the Portsmouth Site.
