A patch of land in the hills of rural Pike County, Ohio, hardly looks as if it played a key role in the Cold War. But as politicians dueled on the world stage, workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant south of Piketon toiled away producing weapons-grade uranium for the United States’ military.
The plant went online in 1954, lasted through the Cold War and is now in the process of winding down. Presciently, a group of Amish settlers who once plowed the land pulled up stakes when construction on the plant began in 1952. They were worried about the environmental impact, and the traditional pacifists were uncomfortable with the militaristic aspects of the complex.
Fast-forward to today, with the plant being decommissioned and an environmental cleanup underway, and former workers say the Amish were right to be afraid. Ex-employees at the plant say that they were sickened by radiation exposure and that the government is turning a deaf ear to them, even though there is a process set up specifically to handle such matters.