Hanford and the Environment

Hanford Site, 1943
Hanford, Washington

The Hanford Site was established for the purpose of transforming uranium into weapons-grade plutonium. The site operated from 1943 to 1990, the years of the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. Officials selected the location because it was isolated and because it was near the Columbia River, which would provide water with which to cool the reactors. Residents of Hanford and other nearby towns were forcibly relocated so construction on the site could begin. The site was enormous, originally covering some 670 square miles.
During its period of operation the Hanford Site produced some 64 metric tons of plutonium, including the material used to make the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The project created massive amounts of discharge and waste materials. At times irradiated water was released into the Columbia River, some of which reached the Pacific Ocean. Gaseous wastes were released into the atmosphere via smokestacks. Today the site includes some 2100 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and 53 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste. There are more than 1,700 waste sites and 500 contaminated facilities at Hanford. In 1989 the Department of Energy agreed to begin the cleanup site, with the goal of reducing the site footprint to 75 square miles.

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission & General Electric Company

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[finefilth]

fucking poisoner propoganda

[mahatiba]

Biggest dumping for radioactive wastesite in the western hemisphere.clean up will take up to 2056.