Free lung cancer screenings offered to former diffusion plant workers PIKETON, OH (WOUB) - A 42-foot-long mobile CT scanner parked at a union hall near Piketon now is offering free lung cancer screening to current and former workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

This is being done by the Worker Health Protection Program, with funding from the US Department of Energy.

DOE operated the plant when it was open and is now cleaning up the site.

Officials say workers there could have been exposed to asbestos, uranium, plutonium and beryllium...which would put them at a higher risk for lung cancer.

Dr. Steven Markowitz of Queens College is director of the project.

He says they will be at the Steelworkers Hall for one week before moving to another DOE site.

The CT scanner opened for business Thursday morning after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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