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Parts of Pike County to be Tested for Radiological Contaminants
By: Associated Press
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PIKETON, Ohio (AP) — 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 six-mile radius from the center of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
Students from Scioto Valley Local School District’s Zahn’s Corner Middle School were relocated to other schools in the district after the 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.