Hanford, in Washington State, the scene of the largest radioactive cleanup in the country. Cleanup of toxic waste at Hanford has passed the 20-year mark already, and is expected to continue for decades.
Credit: : Courtesy of Columbia Riverkeeper
Renowned wartime journalist Wilfred Burchett described the damage from the atomic bomb that flattened Hiroshima as “far greater than photographs can show.” When it comes to the enduring legacy of the Manhattan Project on home soil, the damage to the environment and human health is proving similarly hard to grasp.
The covert project to create the world’s first atomic weapon during WWII, coupled with the nuclear proliferation of the Cold War era, has left a trail of toxic and radioactive waste at sites across the nation that will necessitate, by some margin, the largest environmental cleanup in the nation’s history. The amount of money that has been poured into remediating the waste already is staggering. Still, it appears that the scale of the problems, and the efforts needed to effectively tackle them, continue to be underestimated by […]
We reap what we sow. I have visited many nuclear sites personally in scientific or contractor capacity & also known others folks doing research on radioactive contamination. I have seen firsthand the government is the worst polluter and rarely polices itself. Corporate contractors are often the agents doing government bidding with little care to consequences. These may be somewhat somewhat lost issues but they will not go away for sure! We will pay for Hanford, Savannah, Oak Ridge, Rocky Flats and many other radioactive disasters for generations.