An example of a cover of a recent Student Summary of an Annual Site Environmental Report for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site. (Right) DOE Portsmouth Site Lead Joel Bradburne recently visited Western High School to recognize students.

LATHAM, Ohio — U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site recently visited a group of local high school students to recognize their work on an important project to explain to the public the status of the cleanup at the site.

The Ohio University (OU) project, funded by a DOE grant, enlisted a group of Western High School students to summarize the Site’s technical Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) in a way that accurately interprets the scientific information and explains it to the general public.

“The ASER document is very technical and contains complex scientific data,” said Joel Bradburne, Portsmouth Site Lead for DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office.  “The work done by this class not only makes them more familiar with the Piketon plant, but also results in a summary document that is valuable to the community.”

Students from teacher Roger Holbrook’s environmental science class took the site’s most recent ASER report, reworded it with help from English teacher Ruth Davis’ class, and added artwork with help from art teacher Tammy Clifton’s class.  Ohio University will distribute the Student ASER Summary in fall 2015.

Margaret Hutzel, who oversees the project for OU and has also worked with students at Piketon, Waverly and Eastern High Schools in recent years, was impressed with the caliber of student who participated.  “This particular group of students was very hands-on,” Hutzel said.  “They learned a lot about the plant and were able to break down some of their concerns.  This project demystified the plant for them.”

The students toured the plant in January 2015 and took a field trip to better understand water quality and sampling techniques.  They also had subject matter experts visit the school for demonstrations that helped explain various aspects of the report.

Donavon Tolle is an 18-year-old senior who said the project changed the way he looked at the Piketon plant.  “It was really nice to do this.  It was pretty fun and rewarding, plus I learned a lot,” Tolle said.  “I really enjoyed (Fluor-B&W subject matter expert) Marc Hill who explained all the things that go on for historic preservation.  We all learned just how much they manage the facility.”

Other students participating were Linda Breeding, Anthony Cable, Stevi Donahue, Dakota Hurley, Mark Mollett, Sierra Montgomery, Alexandria Mullett, Ray Nichols, Glen Stapleton and Destiny Stone.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant rests on nearly 3,800 acres in Pike County.  It operated from 1954 to 2001 to enrich uranium for national security purposes and the nation’s commercial nuclear fuel industry.

For more information about the ASER Student Summary project, visit https://www.portsfuture.com/.