Piketon officials hope federal money can help replace school closed from radiation

Patrick Cooley, The Columbus Dispatch
2 min read
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Piketon officials hope $5.5 million in new federal money can help replace Zahn's Corner Middle School, which was forced to close in 2019 after radioactive materials from the Department of Energy's nearby Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant were found at the school.
Piketon officials hope $5.5 million in new federal money can help replace Zahn's Corner Middle School, which was forced to close in 2019 after radioactive materials from the Department of Energy's nearby Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant were found at the school.

Pike County officials hope a pot of federal development money will kick-start the process of replacing a middle school shuttered over fears of radiation exposure.

A bill that passed the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives this week includes $5 million for training and education for the people who live near the former nuclear diffusion plant in Piketon, and $500,000 for technical and regulatory assistance for local governments.

The plant produced uranium for nuclear bombs from 1954 to 2001 and the surrounding communities experienced higher than normal cancer rates.

The payment can help develop a plan to replace Zahn’s Corner Middle School, which was closed in 2020 after radioactive material was found in nearby air and soil, said Jennifer Chandler, councilwoman for the village of Piketon and the president of the Scioto Valley-Piketon Area Council of Governments.

The Scioto Valley School District "is just not willing to take a risk with the children and put them back in that building," she said. "Our plans are to use the funding to design what the replacement building will be."

Zahn's Corner Middle School in the Village of Piketon in Southern Ohio sits only a few miles from the Department of Energy's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
Zahn's Corner Middle School in the Village of Piketon in Southern Ohio sits only a few miles from the Department of Energy's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

The Zahn’s Corner building is less than two miles downwind of the former diffusion plant.

More money will eventually be needed to construct a new school.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, who sits on the appropriations committee and worked to include the $5.5 million in the appropriations bill, said he will keep trying to get funding for the region.

"We're trying to get creative in ways we can get the brick-and-mortar money," he said.

In the meantime, “I think this is a huge shot in the arm to get some momentum down there,” Ryan said.

The congressman is confident the bill will pass the full house and Senate.

The Department of Energy's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant near the Village of Piketon in Southern Ohio is being demolished.
The Department of Energy's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant near the Village of Piketon in Southern Ohio is being demolished.

Crews are working to demolish the sprawling diffusion plant and to decontaminate the site. Local governments and development organizations are looking for industries to replace the jobs that will disappear when the work is finished.

Chandler said some of the $5 million in development money will go towards training Piketon residents to work at any facility that replaces the diffusion plant.

"We want to make sure that the students who are graduating from the Scioto Valley Local School District have received training to move into those types of jobs," she said.

pcooley@dispatch.com

@PatrickACooley

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Piketon to use new money to help replace school closed from radiation

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