WAVERLY, Ohio — After years of unanswered questions about radioactive contamination in Pike County’s soil and waterways, local officials are now calling residents into the room.
The Pike County General Health District, in partnership with the Scioto Valley Piketon Area Council of Governments, will host two public meetings Feb. 20 and 21 to discuss a newly completed addendum to the Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) — this time focused specifically on leafy vegetables and fish.
The assessment addendum was prepared by Auxier & Associates as a continuation of the 2023 HHRA, which identified significant data gaps that left major uncertainties in its findings. Among the biggest concerns: a lack of reliable data on radionuclide concentrations in locally sourced produce and fish.
Those are not abstract categories in Pike County. They are backyard gardens. They are creek-caught fish. They are food freezers filled for winter.
Two Meetings, Two Audiences
The first meeting, scheduled for Friday, Feb. 20, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., is reserved for property owners who had gardens planted on their land and are directly impacted by the results.
The second meeting, open to the general public, will take place Saturday, Feb. 21, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Both meetings will be held at the Pike County General Health District, 116 S. Market St., Waverly. Each session will include a presentation by Auxier followed by a question-and-answer period.
Officials say the addendum was designed to address previous uncertainties.
The Neptunium Findings
In July 2024, the Guardian first reported on findings by world-renowned biochemist Dr. Michael Ketterer, who documented elevated levels of neptunium-237 in plants growing near the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
Neptunium-237 is a highly radioactive, man-made element. According to Ketterer’s research, its most mobile form — the neptunyl cation (NpO₂⁺) — entered groundwater and migrated into the Little Beaver and Big Beaver Creek regions downstream from the plant.
Using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Ketterer’s team analyzed soil, sediment, water, and plant samples collected from the riparian zone at the confluence of the two creeks. The findings were stark:
- Elevated soil concentrations: 8 to 21 picograms per gram — well above levels typically associated with Cold War-era nuclear weapons fallout.
- Source confirmation: Isotope ratios linked the material to the Piketon facility, not historic atmospheric testing.
- Water contamination: Creek samples showed 0.8 to 1.0 picograms per liter of neptunium-237, primarily in its mobile form.
- Plant uptake: Grasses contained roughly 2 picograms per gram in dry plant matter, indicating a concerning soil-to-plant transfer factor.
Plutonium was not detected in water samples but was present in soils — a detail researchers noted could signal future mobility concerns.
The implications were immediate. Community members were warned against consuming locally sourced vegetables or meat until additional testing could clarify exposure risks.
What Comes Next
The newly completed addendum is expected to address those food-chain concerns directly — particularly leafy vegetables and fish, two exposure pathways that were previously under-characterized.
For residents living within a 10- to 15-mile radius of the Piketon site, the question is no longer whether radionuclides moved through soil and water. That has been documented.
The question now is whether they moved onto dinner plates — and what public health officials plan to do about it.
The meetings next week may provide answers. Or they may raise more questions.
In Pike County, both have become routine.