The Department of Energy recently awarded a grant to Ohio University to develop publicly available information related to the environmental cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Pike County, Ohio.

The five-year, $2.5-million-dollar grant will also continue public outreach initiated under a previous DOE grant, including informing stakeholders on cleanup activities and future use of the DOE site. This work involves OU's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and its PORTSfuture project.

"The Department of Energy values this university partnership that provides important research and outreach supporting the cleanup of our gaseous diffusion plants," said Robert Edwards, Acting Manager of DOE's Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. "This institution of higher learning plays an important role in helping DOE and the community address challenges and identify opportunities associated with these historic sites."

With the new funding, OU will continue assisting the local community reuse organization and other site stakeholders to inform site cleanup and property transfer efforts while identifying viable opportunities for future use of the Portsmouth Site.

"A major goal of this project is to provide support to the local community reuse organization in their efforts to realize the citizens' articulated preferences to reindustrialize the site," said Stephanie Howe, PORTSfuture program director. "This will support stable, good-paying jobs that contribute to the regional economy and improve the quality of life for many families in the surrounding counties."

The grant also supports educational outreach programs, including work with students at high schools in Pike County. The high school students prepare summaries of DOE's Annual Site Environmental Reports for the Portsmouth Site to communicate complex cleanup information to the public.

A recent addition to the PORTSfuture program, which is continued under the recently awarded grant, is the Virtual Symposium, a portal featuring presentations covering recent activities completed by both OU and the University of Kentucky, which received a similar grant related to the cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site.