Ohio Nuclear Plant Radiation Exposure Class Action Fails

A potential class action on behalf of people who were allegedly exposed to radioactive material released by an Ohio nuclear plant failed because the plaintiffs’ state law claims are preempted by federal law, the Sixth Circuit affirmed Wednesday.

For about fifty years the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County enriched uranium, and since 2002 the plant has been used as a facility to convert depleted uranium hexafluoride, a coproduct of uranium enrichment, into uranium oxide, a more stable compound. The plant also previously hosted operations for the American Centrifuge Lead Cascade Facility, which processed uranium in a closed loop ...