“Fallout from Russia”

Duane Pohlman, Chief Investigative Reporter

Eric Frisbee, Investigative Photographer/Editor
WKRC-TV. Cincinnati, OH

Summary of our overall investigation

For decades, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has denied any connection between
the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS). a massive uranium enrichment plant in
Southern Ohio and radioactive contamination, cancer and death in the Appalachian
communities that surround it. While people living around PORTS believed the plant is
connected to the cancer and death in their communities, they had no way of proving it. Worse
than that, they believed no one cared.
WKRC-TV’S on-going investigation, “Fallout” provided real data, documents and proof
these families desperately needed, along with the hope of knowing they are no longer alone.

Summary of our entry

In 2022 (which we are submitting as our entry), our “Fallout” investigation culminated in
powerful reports proving radioactive material shipped from Russia to PORTS, as part of the
“Megatons to Megawatt” program, was contaminated with deadly plutonium.

Challenges and Obstacles

Among the biggest challenges in exposing radioactive contamination, cancer and death
around PORTS is the location of the plant itself, which is far outside of the Cincinnati television
viewing area in a remote and underserved Appalachian county. While the fact that the plant
and county are not in the viewing area would be enough for most stations to pass, Pohlman
argued that the issues should be investigated because of one undeniable fact: Children and
others are dying from rare cancers and their families and neighbors have been powerless to
have their voices heard simply because of where they live.
WKRC-TV News Director Tim Geraghty tossed television convention aside, agreeing to
allow Pohlman to pursue the stories in a place where people say they had been forgotten. Not
surprisingly, our reports have resulted in high interest and high viewership, proving that the
truth is powerful, even when it goes beyond our backyard.
Another major hurdle in our investigation is the subject matter itself. Understanding
complex nuclear physics and epidemiology is not easy! Thankfully, we could rely on former
PORTS employees, including its former chief scientist, and a chemistry and biochemistry expert
in Arizona, as well a leading epidemiologist in New Jersey to help us interpret the information.
The next and arguably, most disturbing obstacle was DOE’s lack of cooperation,
including providing no meaningful documents to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests and never agreeing once to an on-camera interview in two years. We overcame this by
relying on former employees, including former anti-terrorism and OSHA officers who had
retained copies of tens of thousands of documents. The former employees assisted Pohlman
in his research by meeting with him on Zoom© every week for more than two years.
Our investigation also relied upon historical reports from the General Accounting Office
(GAO), Annual Site Environmental Reports (ASER) reports, as well as readings from DOE air
monitors, and spectrographic analysis at Northern Arizona University of dust and other material
collected around PORTS,
While radioactive contamination of former employees at uranium and plutonium
processing plants across the county has long been a subject of investigative reports,
contamination, cancer, and deaths in the rural communities that surround these facilities have
often ignored. We found little contemporaneous reporting to provide guidance for our
investigation.

Government demands retraction

We faced a significant challenge and perceived threat after airing our first story about
plutonium in the radioactive shipments from Russia. Within hours, we received an email from
DOE and the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA), accusing us of “gross inaccuracies,”
“misrepresentation of the facts,” and that we had been “unfair” by not allowing DOE enough
time to respond, even though we sent numerous, detailed emails requesting comment weeks
before the story aired.
In a conference call that followed with Chief Investigative Reporter Duane Pohlman,
News Director Tim Geraghty, SBG General Counsel Chase Bales, DOE Director of External Affairs
Stephen Clutter, Acting Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Gordon
Trowbridge was irate, raising his voice many times, reiterating the accusations in the email,
while claiming our story had damaged our country’s relationship with Russia, which had just
invaded Ukraine.
Trowbridge demanded we retract our story. When Pohlman asked what Trowbridge
believed was not factual about our report, he stated emphatically that no plutonium was
shipped from Russia. Pohlman and Geraghty pointed out that our story made no such claim but
relied on the government’s own documents to prove the Russian material was contaminated
with plutonium. Trowbridge responded by admitting some plutonium could have been included
in the Russian shipments but insisted there was no threat to health and safety.
When asked to provide documents that would back his claim – including all testing data
of the Russian material that Pohlman had already requested in writing – Trowbridge at first
vehemently declined, insisting that he did not have to prove anything. After reminding him that
we based our reporting on documentation, Trowbridge did an about face and told us that he
would provide “tons of documents.” (We have not received one document following the phone
conference)
Finally, in a stunning moment, Trowbridge said he was a former and knew Pohlman and
his work from his time as a journalist (at the Detroit News) and as a fellow member of
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). He then told Pohlman that his work had “slipped,”
falling to “a new low’ in his career. Pohlman replied that this investigation is among “The best
work I’ve aired.”
By the end of the conversation, Trowbridge could only argue that Pohlman’s story had
“created a perception” that only plutonium was being shipped. We disagreed but tweaked
language in future stories to ensure clarity.
Our management, including General Manager Jon Lawhead, News Director Tim
Geraghty, Group News Director Jamie Justice, and corporate General Counsel Chase Bales gave
Pohlman full support to continue airing stories, which included another report that ran less
than two weeks later, laying out more proof of the plutonium in Russian shipments, as well as
details of some of Russian facilities where the radioactive shipments originated. That story also
included an exclusive interview with a Russian political dissident living in Paris, who described,
in haunting detail, the radioactive contamination from Mayak, the once-secret Soviet
plutonium processing facility that played a key role in the radioactive shipments from Russia to
PORTS.

Impact of our investigation so far

After airing the first story about plutonium contamination in the Russian shipments, U.S.
Representative Tim Ryan (D) Ohio, called Chief Investigative Reporter Duane Pohlman to
congratulate him on his work, calling the story “shocking.”
Rep. Ryan, who was running for U.S. Senate, then called for a special meeting with city
and county leaders and DOE representatives in Piketon, OH days after our second story to
discuss several matters related to PORTS, including the plutonium issues that we raised in our
reporting.
As Pohlman was about to be escorted into the meeting, Ike White, a senior advisor for
U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management tried to exit through a
side door.
 Pohlman and photographer Eric Frisbee caught up with him, finally getting an
opportunity to ask real questions of a high-level DOE official.
While White told us he was not aware of plutonium in the Russian shipments, he
walked away from Pohlman when asked directly whether plutonium was present at the plant.
White’s refusal to answer the question was shown in a follow-up story, along with
documents that proved plutonium had indeed contaminated PORTS.
Rep. Ryan then directed his staff to follow-up with Pohlman to assist in drafting a letter
to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, requesting detailed data and documents about the
contamination surrounding PORTS raised in our investigation. The letter was sent on October
5th.
Rep. Ryan also reached out to U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D) West Virginia, Chair of the
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to discuss the findings of our investigation
and request he visit Pike County.
On October 20th, Sen. Manchin joined Congressman Ryan, touring a middle school that
was closed because of radioactive contamination and holding a meeting with local elected
leaders, school officials and parents of cancer victims.
After the meeting, Sen. Manchin talked with Pohlman, promising to get answers from
DOE, even if it means holding hearings in Washington.
Congressman Ryan lost his bid for Senate, but he and his staff have remained in
contact with Pohlman, assisting in our investigation and facilitating Sen. Manchin in his demand
for answers.
We intend to place much of our efforts in 2023 focusing on the efforts of Sen. Brown
and Sen. Manchin to obtain real data, documents, and answers from DOE. Former U.S. Rep.
Ryan is promising to continue providing help, as well.
* Congressman Ryan also wrote this letter to WKRC-TV’s Duane Pohlman (below), praising this
investigation that “shined a light” on the serious issues. He ended the letter, telling Pohlman, “…you
have demonstrated how a free press is essential to a healthy democracy.”