Frantic parents fear for kids after radioactive contamination found at Ohio middle school

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Ashley Day has always worried about the health risks of living a few miles from a defunct nuclear power plant in Piketon, Ohio. So, when her son Kendon came home Monday and told her school had been canceled for the rest of the year, she had a sinking feeling there was a connection.

A few hours later, her fears were confirmed: The Scioto Valley Local School District declared in a letter that Zahn's Corner Middle School would be shut down for the remainder of the school year because of possible radioactive contamination from the nearby Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which the federal Department of Energy is in the process of decommissioning.

"I felt anxiety, anger, and paranoia all at once," she said. "It's so scary that my child has been exposed to this because I have no idea how it's going to affect him."

The district said enriched uranium and neptunium-237, highly carcinogenic radioactive chemicals, were detected not only inside the building but also at a Department of Energy air monitor adjacent to the school.

"It is the position of the Board that any level of contamination on or near our school is unacceptable," board President Brandon Wooldridge wrote in a letter shared on Facebook. He also admonished the Department of Energy, urging it to "take appropriate actions to ensure radiological contaminants are not being released from the site."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/frantic-parents-fear-for-kids-after-radioactive-contamination-found-at-ohio-middle-school/ar-AABptjR?li=BBnbcA1

[pandr32]

1. How awful for these families

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Their local school is closed, but their residence is not affacted? I would buy a Geiger Counter.

.

The whole fucking area might be a radioactive hot spot.

Not the cheapie ones, but the Victoreen Civil Defense ones. Make sure you get the calibration sample and spare tubes.

.

[dewsgirl]

5. I'd be stocking up on iodine pills at the least.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. Damn straight!

[Igel]

14. Why?

You take KI after a nuclear attack to prevent uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid. If you've loaded your thyroid with non-radioactive isotopes, then the radioactive stuff will almost entirely excreted.

This is U and Np. The thyroid has no special affinity for those two heavy metals. While iodine supplements aren't necessarily a bad thing, most people get what they need from food and iodized salt.

[enough]

3. Pretty amazing that the DOE let this information out at all.

They don’t have a great history of transparency.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Rick Perry is still in charge. . . Oops!

[maxsolomon]

7. Tra-la-la, let's build more Nuclear Plants!

It's carbon-neutral! What could possibly happen?

Umm, Neptunium-237 could happen.

[Igel]

15. It's a naturally occurring isotope.

With a long half life. This isn't a reactor that we're talking about, or a nuclear waste processing plant. It's a gaseous diffusion enrichment plant that's been decommissioned.

The isotope decays by emitting an alpha particle. Unless the radioactive stuff is internal, alpha particles aren't just a huge deal; if they're inside your body, then it's a huge deal. That dead skin you carry with you is protection against all but the highest energy alpha particles.

That it's airborne is a problem; that they haven't determined the level of radiation says it's probably old. Since the two isotopes have half lives of a million years or more, they're not all that hot.

[maxsolomon]

16. Ah, sounds similar to Hanford out here on the Columbia.

Except that was nuclear reactors making weapons fuel. Now it's all cleanup.

I keep telling my wife not to exfoliate; now I have a better reason.

thanks for the info!

[a kennedy]

8. Yah, let's have some more of that clean nuclear energy.....

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN NUCLEAR ENERGY. Ugh......

[in2herbs]

9. Read up on it: blue-green algae/spirulina has been successfully treating the nuclear victims

of Chernobyl for years.

[SidDithers]

10. What were the levels detected?...

There's no data in the linked article.

Sid

[hunter]

11. There's probably worse shit to be found in Ohio schools.

Yeah, I looked for levels too.

It's likely below what you'd find with a common Geiger counter.

Nobody seems to care about the toxins that have a half life of forever or the toxins spewing from the cars they drive.

[pstokely]

12. well these kids are already born

well past the heartbeat stage

[Initech]

13. Holy shit! Was Homer Simpson at the helm???

[irisblue]

17. From local paper

source--https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/top-stories/37702/pike-health-commissioner-calls-out-doe-on-radioactive-materials-found-at-school.

Dated April 25th, 2019

snip--Pike health commissioner calls out DOE on radioactive materials found at school

snip--..."confirmed contamination above ordinary background levels at properties near the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, including adjacent to the Zahn’s Corner Middle School,” Brewster added. “While it is premature to determine the health impacts of the contamination discovered thus far, this forum is the first step we will take to ensure the health and safety of our residents is protected.”

The presence of neptunium in the air at the middle school was first made public by DOE in its 2017 Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) which was released in January of this year.

The ASER specifically talks about neptunium-237 being found at the school. The ASER states the amount found was 0.08 percent of the acceptable standard for the radioactive material. A vocal opponent of the waste disposal facility, Piketon Village Councilman Dennis Foreman immediately blasted the report of any neptunium at the school, no matter how small the amount. Foreman told the Daily Times there is no logical reason for any radioactive materials to be present in the air near a public middle school."


More at local newspaper & Pike County Ohio Health Comission sites