UPDATE: Pike County schools, homes to be tested for radiological contaminants

UPDATE: 10/22/19 4:25 P.M.

A private company will test schools and homes near a former uranium- enrichment plant in Ohio for radiological contaminants after trace amounts of enriched uranium were found at a nearby middle school over the summer.

Pike County officials say North Canton-based Solutient Technologies will test schools, public and private properties and state waters in the Piketon area within a 6-mile radius from the center of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

Students at Zahn's Corner Middle School were moved to other schools in the Scioto Valley Local School District after trace amounts of contaminants were found there.

The U.S. Department of Energy said its tests found levels of radioactivity that aren't above naturally occurring levels, but it agreed to fund independent, third-party testing of the area.

UPDATE: 06/01/19

A federal lawsuit alleges that Ohio residents near a former uranium enrichment plant were exposed to radioactive contaminants that spread to other properties but weren't informed about it.

Several residents are suing over contamination from the site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon and construction of a waste-disposal facility there. They're seeking damages and medical monitoring through the suit against companies involved in work at the site.

The suit filed in late May seeks class-action status to represent residents within seven miles (11 kilometers) of the site and students at a school where radioactive material was found , prompting its closure.

Messages seeking comment were sent to the main cleanup contractor at the plant site and the company that ran a uranium enrichment project there in recent years.

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UPDATE: 05/27/19

An Ohio school district that closed a building where radioactive contamination was found says classes will be moved elsewhere at the start of next school year.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the U.S. Department of Energy conducted testing Friday at the Scioto Valley Local School District's Zahn's Corner Middle School, which was closed earlier this month. The DOE and Pike County Health District are hiring an independent third party to also test for radioactive contamination.

The southern Ohio building is several miles from DOE's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which once produced enriched uranium for nuclear plants and the U.S. nuclear weapons programs.

The DOE reported in 2017 that trace amounts of radioactive neptunium were detected on school grounds. More recently, traces of enriched uranium were detected inside the school.

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

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UPDATE: 05/22/19 10:15 AM

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has ordered his agency to release more than four years' worth of data from air monitors near a Pike County, Ohio, school where trace amounts of radioactive material were discovered.

Perry said the data from 2015 through the first quarter of this year comes from six air-monitoring stations on Energy Department property and 10 in the surrounding southern Ohio community.

Perry told Gov. Mike DeWine in a letter on Monday that the data was provided to Pike County authorities, the state Department of Health and the state Environmental Protection Agency.

Zahn's Corner Middle School was closed last week while more tests are done and health impacts are evaluated.

The school is several miles from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which produced enriched uranium until 2001.

(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ORIGINAL STORY: 05/14/19

An Ohio middle school has closed its doors after radioactive materials were detected inside and outside of the school.

The Scioto Valley Local School District decided to close Zahns Corner Middle School after enriched uranium was detected inside of it.

This comes less than three weeks after another radioactive material, Neptunium 237, was detected by a U.S. Department of Energy air monitor located near the middle school.

In a letter to parents and staff, the Scioto Valley Local School District said the school will remain closed "until the source, extent, level of contamination, and potential impacts to public health and the environment can be determined."

The letter also said the enriched uranium and Neptunium are "contaminants of concern by the U.S. Department of Energy on the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant property," which is located near the middle school.

The Scioto Valley Local Schools District said it worked with the Pike County Health Department to make this decision.

School officials said they think it is in the student's best interest to close the school for the remainder of the year.