PIKETON, Ohio — Pike County residents living near the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant could become eligible for federal compensation for the first time under a new bipartisan bill introduced in Congress, according to the Pike County General Health District.
The health district said in a social media post that the legislation marks “an important milestone” in a yearslong push to have the Pike County community recognized alongside other former nuclear weapons production sites under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, known as RECA.
U.S. Delegate James Moylan, R-Guam, joined Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., Wesley Bell, D-Mo., and Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., in introducing the measure, timed to the 81st anniversary of the Trinity Test and National Atomic Veterans Day on July 16. The legislation would reauthorize and expand RECA, extending eligibility to communities exposed to radioactive material at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the Rocky Flats Plant and the Cañon City Mill in Colorado, the Hanford Site in Washington, and Manhattan Project waste sites near St. Louis. It would also fully cover so-called Downwinders, people exposed to fallout from nuclear weapons testing, across Arizona, Colorado, Guam, Montana and Nevada.
Congress last reauthorized and expanded RECA in July 2025, extending eligibility to communities around the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Tennessee, two facilities that enriched uranium much like the Portsmouth plant near Piketon. Pike County was left out of that expansion despite years of advocacy from local officials and residents who say living near the plant’s emergency planning zone has left them with elevated rates of illness.
The health district thanked Pike County commissioners, advocates and Moylan for helping “reopen the conversation” on RECA, and it called on the rest of Ohio’s congressional delegation, including Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio, whose 2nd Congressional District includes Pike County, to support the bill.
“Our community deserves the same recognition and opportunity for compensation as others affected by our nation’s nuclear legacy,” the health district said.
The bill still needs to clear both chambers of Congress before it could become law. A previous version of RECA expansion passed the Senate in an earlier Congress but never received a vote in the House.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Pike County General Health District.
