Ohio School Closed After Enriched Uranium Detected Inside
PIKETON, Ohio (AP) - The discovery of trace amounts of radioactive material in and around a southern Ohio school has prompted school district officials to close the building while more tests are done and health impacts are evaluated.
Scioto Valley Local School District's Zahn's Corner Middle School is several miles from the U.S. Energy Department's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which produced enriched uranium until 2001 and where a nuclear waste disposal site is being built.
District officials notified parents and the community about the closing Monday.
The Columbus Dispatch reports DOE officials say construction work will continue despite community concerns.
DOE released a report in 2017 saying trace amounts of radioactive neptunium had been detected in an air-monitoring station on the school's grounds. The district says enriched uranium has been detected inside the school.
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