“Fallout”

Duane Pohlman, Chief Investigative Reporter

WKRC-TV. Cincinnati, OH

Summary of our investigation’s objectives

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 was
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 chief investigative reporter Duane Pohlman’s on-going investigation,
“Fallout” has provided real data, documents and proof these families desperately needed,
along with the hope of knowing they are no longer alone.

Summary of our stories

Pohlman’s investigative series, “Fallout” began airing in 2020, documenting the tragic
stories of cancer and death, highlighting a middle school that was closed because of radioactive
contamination, connecting the contamination to PORTS, and revealing the county where PORTS
is located has the highest cancer rate in the state.
In 2022 (which we are submitting as our entry), “Fallout” culminated in powerful
reports:
• A RADIOACTIVE HOME: Pohlman crawls into an attic of a home - already thought to be
radioactive - to help collect more dust for testing. To the family suffering serious health issues,
the proof that their home is contaminated with dangerously high levels of radioactive
contamination was essential. To the community, it was confirmation that enriched uranium
traveled much farther from a cold war plant in southern Ohio than the government admits.
• TOO MANY DEATHS: Pohlman travels to New Jersey to interview a leading epidemiologist who
reveals a shocking number of excessive deaths happening in the county surrounding the plant.
• FALLOUT FROM RUSSIA: Pohlman uncovers documents proving radioactive material- shipped
from Russia to the plant in Southern Ohio during the “Megatons to Megawatt” program -
contained at least trace amounts of deadly plutonium that have contaminated the plant and
community. This story drew threats from government officials and triggered a demand for
answers from a U.S. Representative
 How the investigation began

The “Fallout” investigation began in an unlikely way six years ago when Pohlman began
covering “The Pike County Massacre,” where eight members of a family were murdered. During
his trips to cover the killings, many people living in the remote, Appalachian county began
telling Pohlman they faced a much more deadly threat from PORTS.
Pohlman followed-up with those sources, visiting the county and plant many times over
four years, immersing himself in the difficult subjects of nuclear physics, radioactive
contamination, and cancer until he could find enough time to focus on this incredibly important
story.

Challenges and Obstacles

Among the biggest challenges in exposing radioactive contamination, cancer and death
around PORTS was 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 of a reason for most stations
to pass on this investigation, Pohlman argued that we needed to pursue these issues 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 agreed to allow Pohlman to pursue the stories in
a place where people say they had been forgotten. Not surprisingly, Pohlman’s 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, Pohlman 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 most disturbing obstacle was DOE’s lack of cooperation, including
providing no meaningful documents to our repeated 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 two weeks for more than two years.
This 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 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 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.
Finally, after Pohlman crawled into the attic of home 10 miles from PORTS to collect
dust, which was tested and found to be contaminated with dangerously high amounts of
enriched uranium, US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) issued a statement, saying, “It is
unacceptable for any Ohio family to have to worry about getting sick in the place they’re
supposed to be safest – their home. I’m concerned about these new reports that show
radioactive particles in a house four miles outside of the zone where the Department of
Energy (DOE) is testing for radioactive activity. The DOE now needs to be transparent and
accountable – especially for this community that has been struggling for 50 years.”
Rep. Ryan also issued a statement, saying in part: “This new report … raises serious
concerns around DOE’s testing methodology and handling of radioactive materials around
PORTS.”
We intend to place much of our attention in 2023 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.

• A letter from U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan to Duane Pohlman is included below. Congressman
Ryan delivered the letter after Pohlman’s first series of reports revealed plutonium in
Russian supplies, saying Pohlman’s investigation over two years had “…shined a light
not only on the contamination surrounding PORTS, but… also raised serious questions
about plutonium from Russian supplies, shipped during the “Megatons to Megawatts”
program,” adding, “…you have demonstrated how a free press is essential to a healthy
democracy.”
*Letters of support for this entry are also included below from:
o Dr. David Manuta, former chief scientist at PORTS
o Dr. Michael Ketterer, environmental radioactivity expert at Northern Arizona
University
o Charles “Chick” Lawson, former OSHA investigator and union safety officer at
PORTS, whose home is now proven to be contaminated with enriched uranium.
o Jeff Walburn, former security inspector and anti-terrorism responder at PORTS