PIKETON, Ohio — A surprise emergency drill at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant on July 8 sent shockwaves through the rural Appalachian town of Piketon—reviving old fears and reigniting distrust in the U.S. Department of Energy’s communication protocols.
Residents reported emergency personnel near the East Gate at Dutch Run Road. Roadways were barricaded. Security forces blocked access points. But the DOE said nothing.
“I immediately got into my car and drove to my sister's home that is less than half mile from that exact location,” said Gina Doyle, a longtime Piketon resident and head of the activist group Don't Dump On Us. “My sister and brother-in-law have many health issues and I was concerned if it was something that they had to be evacuated for it would be extremely hard for them.”
For nearly two hours, Doyle and others waited—listening for sirens, scanning official channels, making calls. None were returned with answers.
“I had also made some calls to try and find out if it was a drill, a gas leak or something worse,” she said. “No one I contacted knew or could find out anything!”
This wasn’t a meltdown—but to residents who live in the shadow of a site known for radioactive releases, a lack of warning feels like betrayal. It’s a familiar story:
In 1978, two major releases of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) occurred at the plant. One involved nearly 1,000 pounds of the toxic gas. The other—triggered when a shuttle carrier dropped a cylinder releasing over 20,000 pounds. Prevailing winds carried the plume southwest into Scioto County. The public was never warned. Emergency services outside the plant were never notified. According to scientists, the radiation released that day reportedly exceeded that of the Three Mile Island incident.
When questioned by the Ohio EPA, DOE officials denied the incidents ever happened. Internal EPA documents obtained by the Ohio Atomic Press show that DOE “blatantly and openly lied” to state regulators.
In 1998, a fire in the X-326 building nearly triggered a nuclear catastrophe. UF6 reacted violently with molten aluminum, creating a flash fire that burned for over two hours. Flames reached 20 feet high. The fire violated the last remaining nuclear criticality safety rule, said DOE officials in follow-up investigations. DOE also claimed (still do today) that only used oil had burned—but internal documents revealed that pigtails containing nuclear weapons-grade material was stored in the building just months prior. NRC reports also noted that the cascade process piping was also seriously damagaged in the inferno.
Archival Images from the 1978 Release of Over 20,000 Pounds of Uranium Hexafluoride at Portsmouth Plant
“I was concerned for my family and the fear I felt and they felt was real,” Doyle recalled. “We shouldn't have to feel this way over a drill being conducted at the PORTS Plant.”
The Department of Energy has remained silent—just as it did on May 11, when residents reported burning lungs and eyes after a possible airborne release. Our own chief investigative journalist Jason Salley also documented his symptoms after being exposed to the mystery aerosol. And now, July 8 has entered the growing timeline of unannounced events that induced fear but offered no explanation.
Doyle, who has lobbied for emergency alerts akin to the Amber Alert system, expressed outrage: “I have asked (others) about an alert system. The community has had enough untruths and misleading statements made to them. We have the right to know so people don't panic!”
The Ohio EPA later confirmed to the Ohio Atomic Press that the event was a training drill.
But for a community rattled by a history of secrecy, the truth after-the-fact doesn’t undo the fear. Especially when the government knew the reaction it would cause—and did nothing to prevent it.
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