Department of Energy Sites
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant

This page was created by Ohio EPA's Office of Federal Facilities Oversight and contains general information on the Portsmouth cleanup. For more extensive and up to date information on Portsmouth, please visit Ohio EPA's official Portsmouth page.  portsP.gif (48976 bytes)

 

 

 

 

 

This prairie was developed from an old
lime sludge lagoon as a penalty project.

ports7-11-00.jpg (17600 bytes)
This picture of the phytoremediation project was taken July 11, 2000  near Portsmouth. Some of the trees are as high as 20 feet.

DOE's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant is located in southern Ohio near Piketon. The principal process at the facility is the separation of uranium isotopes via gaseous diffusion. The Portsmouth facility has been operating since 1954, enriching uranium for use in commercial reactors and for use by the U.S. Navy in power reactors. The United States Enrichment Corporation ceased enrichment operations at the facility in May, 2001. The cleanup at Portsmouth is being conducted under the RCRA Corrective Action Program. The State of Ohio and the US DOE entered into a Consent Agreement in 1989. In the same year Portsmouth entered into a separate Consent Order with US EPA.  Ohio EPA has the responsibility for the day-to-day oversight of response action activities. 

The contaminants of concern are volatile organic contaminants, radiologicals, PCBs and PAHs. The major environmental concern at Portsmouth is volatiles in ground water. IRMs (barrier wall and trenches) have been installed to prevent migration of ground water plumes to surface water and areas off site. No ground water contamination has been detected off site.  In a technology called, phytoremediation, trees are used to passively treat ground water contamination and help reduce the volume of waste needed to be actively treated or shipped off site.  The cleanup of numerous depleted uranium hexaflouride (DUF6) cylinders at Portsmouth is an area of concern.  There are numerous environmental issues associated with theses cylinders ranging from potential release of DUF6 into the atmosphere, to the potential exposure to off site populations. 

For environmental information concerning this site, contact:

Maria Galanti
OEPA/SEDO/DERR
 2195 Front Street
 Logan, Ohio 43138
 (740) 380-5289

Or for depleted uranium hexaflouride specific information contact:

Melody Stewart
OEPA/SEDO/DHWM
 2195 Front Street
 Logan, Ohio 43138
 (740) 380-5256

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