A group of current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio are again targets of a federal lawsuit, this one filed by a plaintiff suffering from cancer who attended a now-shuttered middle school near the former gaseous diffusion plant.
Christian Rose, diagnosed in June with Burkitt Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, filed suit against Centrus Energy and other Portsmouth contractors March 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
The plaintiff, who has undergone chemotherapy for the illness, attended Zahn’s Corner Middle School for two years, according to the complaint. The school is located about two miles from the uranium enrichment plant site undergoing cleanup. The middle school closed down in May 2019 “because enriched uranium was detected inside the building,” according to the suit.
The Department of Energy’s fiscal 2023 federal budget provides $20 million toward replacement of the closed middle school.
Rose, treated last June at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, is now “above the age of majority,” according to the suit. The term refers to the point when someone reaches legal adulthood, which is age 18 in Ohio.
“Defendants could have prevented or mitigated the offsite impact [of radiological operations] with better precautionary measures, compliance with applicable regulations, and the use of reasonable care,” according to the lawsuit. “The harm posed could have been reduced or avoided by reasonable instructions or warnings when it became clear that toxins had been released into the environment.”
Centrus is the lead defendant in the suit. The company enriched uranium at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion plant between 2001 and 2011.
Other former Portsmouth contractors are also named as defendants in the case: BWXT Conversion Services, Mid-America Conversion Services, United States Enrichment Corp. — Centrus’ predecessor company — Uranium Disposition Services, Bechtel Jacobs LLC, Lata/Parallax Portsmouth and current site cleanup contractor, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth.
An email seeking comment from several of the defendant companies was not immediately returned Wednesday after. Generally, the contractors have argued their operations at Portsmouth have been safe and in keeping with government regulations and any off site contamination has been too minimal to endanger human health.
The same contractors are also defendants in a lawsuit brought by the family of a 13-year-old boy who died of cancer and had been a student and the middle school. There is also a potential class action suit brought by a group of residents living around the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion plant site.
