Plum Brook radiation topic of Jan. 17 hearing

12/21/2005

SANDUSKY A Jan. 17 meeting is set for residents to hear a presentation about radioactive contamination from the former nuclear test reactor at NASA s Plum Brook facility four miles south of this Erie County seat.

The meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Cedar Point Center on Bowling Green State University s Firelands campus, located at One University Drive in Huron.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) arranged the meeting after NASA revealed in October that Plum Brook, one of Lake Erie s smallest tributaries, has been radioactive for at least 32 years. Miss Kaptur said residents will be briefed by NASA, as well as members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Ohio Department of Health.

While the contamination in Plum Brook is believed to be only slightly above natural background levels, NASA is taking more samples from along a one-mile stretch from Pentolite Ditch to Bogart Road to see if the sediment needs to be removed.