PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lucy Henry, ISAR, 202 387-3034
Date: November 18, 2003
Vina Colley, PRESS, (740) 259-4688
POTENTIAL COMMUNITY HEALTH THREAT POSED BY RADIATION IN CREEK FLOWING
FROM PORTSMOUTH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT IN PIKETON, OH.
Sergei Paschenko, a Russian physicist and president of the non-profit
institute, Siberian Scientists for Global Responsibility, has been
conducting
monitoring around the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant this week
in conjunction
with a Washington, DC based organization ISAR, the Initiative for
Social Action
and Renewal and a local organization PRESS, Portsmouth/Piketon Residents
for
Environmental Safety and Security.
Dr. Paschenko has collected over 100 samples of water and soil around
the
plant, which will be analyzed in SSGR's laboratory in the coming
months.
However, in the first stage of analysis, Paschenko discovered levels
of beta
activity in samples of foam that were at least 100 times higher
than normal
background levels. This foam was collected in a creek that
flows from the plant
grounds along border of the site.
Similar samples of foam were collected further from the plant on
residential
land as well as in areas where cattle and other domestic animals
were kept.
These samples gave similar readings to the one found on the plant
border.
Dr. Paschenko commented: "In my thirty years of experience, I have
never
come across foam with such high levels of radiation.
This finding requires
serious inquiry by the Department of Energy, the Environmental protection
agency,
and an explanation to the public about potential health hazards."
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