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The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) is a massive facility, dominating the landscape in Pike County. It was also a massive fixture in America's front lines during the Cold War.
For nearly five decades, from 1954 to 2001, PORTS processed uranium, critical to making America's nuclear arsenal and fueling its nuclear navy.
Now closed and partially dismantled, PORTS is considered "ground zero" for claims of radioactive contamination in nearby communities, now riddled with rare cancers that are claiming children.
"We've got alarming cancer rates," said Matt Brewster, noting Pike County is number one in Ohio for cancer rates, as compiled by the state health department.
THE PLUTONIUM PUZZLE
The US Department of Energy (DOE) which continues to oversee PORTS, insists radiation around the plant is at safe levels.
However, some of the radioactive particles in the air around PORTS are not the uranium you would expect to find, but something much more deadly: plutonium.
"The chemical and radiological toxicity associated with plutonium is many, many times worse than uranium," notes Dr. David Manuta, who was the chief scientist at PORTS from 1992 to 2000.
Plutonium and plutonium-related particles are being picked up around Ports, both by the DOE's own instruments and by independent studies.
In 2017, a DOE air monitor across from the now-closed Zahn's Corner Middle School, picked up Neptunium-237. The following year, the same monitor found Americium-241. Both elements are byproducts of plutonium.
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