By WAYNE ALLEN

PDT Staff Writer

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in cooperation with Fluor-B&W Portsmouth will host a public meeting tonight to discuss options being considered to dispose of soil and debris generated through cleanup, and preparing the site and region for future use.

“This meeting is part of a quarterly public information series of meetings we’ve been holding with the public and the neighbors of the plant. We want to keep people informed about some of our upcoming decisions,” said Marc Jewett with DOE Regulatory Affairs. “This is a year of a lot of key decisions for the site. The emphasis of the quarterly meetings is about those upcoming decisions.”

He said the quarterly meeting is an information exchange on demolition decisions as well as where the materials from the demolition and cleanup will go.

“One of the main decisions that need to be made is, should the plant be demolished or not. Is there a useful life for any or all of the facility as they stand now, or should they all be demolished,” Jewett said. “That’s the first major decision: do nothing or dismantle the plant? The second key decision is where the materials should go.”

The two options are keeping the material on-site or shipping it off-site.

“Even with an on-site alternative a certain amount of materials would need to leave the site no matter what. So, it’s not an on or off decision, it’s how much should stay, how much should go.”

Jewett said there are advantages to both options.

“With the on-site decision the main consideration there is cost and if it makes sense to put that much material on the highways or train tracks to a disposal site far away,” Jewett said. “Those are some of the factors Ohio EPA and DOE would need to consider.”

He said no decision has been made and the emphasis of the public meeting will be to inform participants on how the decisions will be made, who will be making them and the role of the public in those choices.

Jewett said a public comment period on these decisions should take place this summer.

The meeting will be 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at Waverly High School in Pike County.