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Hanford
Tumbleweeds pile up against the fence of the first production reactor built alongside the Columbia River at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in this 1994 photo by Christopher Anderson.
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Summary
In 1943, the federal government chose Hanford, in Washington state, to make plutonium for the Manhattan Project, a secret wartime effort to build an atomic bomb. That military mission ended in 1988, launching a cleanup effort that continues to this day. In 1994, S-R reporters Karen Dorn Steele and Jim Lynch wrote a five-day series called Wasteland detailing the money spent on Hanford’s cleanup.
In an agreement reached in the early days of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government agreed to indemnify the nuclear contractors making plutonium at Hanford, including corporate giants General Electric and E.I. DuPont de Nemours.
That means U.S. taxpayers have also been paying the legal bills for the Hanford contractors’ defense in lawsuits by “downwinders” who say they were sickened by pollution from the facility – over $60 million so far – as well as any settlements to individual plaintiffs and favorable verdicts in the Hanford case.
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Latest updates in this topic
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Hanford offers sent to hundreds
April 1, 2012 in City on Page B1 A law firm representing several nuclear contractors has sent confidential settlement offers to hundreds of plaintiffs exposed to radiation from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation during World War II and the …
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Energy chief to visit Hanford
March 29, 2012 in Region on Page A6 Energy Secretary Steven Chu plans to visit Hanford in June to hold a town hall and other meetings to discuss safety issues with vitrification plant workers. No date has been … 1
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Hanford tower taken down during cleanup
January 15, 2012 in City, Region on Page B2 RICHLAND – A guard tower that stood over the Columbia River at Hanford for half a century came crashing to the ground Wednesday. “It’s really an iconic symbol of Hanford …
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Hanford N Reactor guard tower pulled down
January 13, 2012 in Region RICHLAND — The historic Hanford guard tower that stood above the Columbia River for a half-century has been pulled to the ground. 1
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Groups: Hanford study underpredicted levels
October 9, 2011 in City on Page B1 A $27 million government study to estimate radiation doses received by the public from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation’s weapons factories is being called into question by other scientific organizations and … 4
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Atomic Man still has lessons to teach after 35 years
September 14, 2011 in Region Thirty-five years after Hanford’s “Atomic Man” was sprayed with americium in the nuclear reservation’s worst radioactive accident, the case still has lessons for workers at the Department of Energy’s nuclear …
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$12 billion may not be enough to finish Hanford plant
August 30, 2011 in Region The Department of Energy may not be able to complete the Hanford vitrification plant for the projected $12.2 billion, according to an internal DOE document. 2
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DOE offers to settle claims
July 15, 2011 in City on Page A5 The U.S. Department of Energy has tentatively agreed to settle the claims of 139 people with thyroid disease – the largest settlement so far in a massive civil suit brought …
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U.S. settles with some Hanford downwinders
July 14, 2011 in City The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to settle the claims of 139 people with thyroid disease — the largest settlement so far in a massive civil suit brought by … 3
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Defense safety board criticizes Hanford project
June 14, 2011 in Region A lax safety culture that deters timely reporting and resolution of technical concerns is endangering the success of a $12.2 billion plant being built at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear … 1
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Novel depicts radioactive waste spill at Hanford
April 11, 2011 in News The plot: A deadly earthquake rips through the Hanford nuclear reservation, erupting a graveyard of radioactive waste and releasing a flood of doom that threatens thousands of Tri-Citians. A Silicon … 3
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Lasting home elusive for used Hanford fuel
March 27, 2011 in City on Page A1 Critics challenging the safety of Washington state’s only commercial nuclear power plant say it should not get its license renewed until all questions about the integrity of its spent fuel … 5
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Hanford downwinder succumbs to illness
February 12, 2011 in News, City, Region Deborah Clark, who was among those suing Hanford contractors over her thyroid cancer, has died.
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Plaintiffs’ lawyers decry Hanford payment offers
February 10, 2011 in City on Page A10 Sparks flew in U.S. District Court in Spokane Wednesday over settlement offers to 234 people with thyroid cancer who were exposed to radiation from Hanford in the early rush to … 2
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Hanford radiation plaintiff near death
February 5, 2011 in City on Page A1 A woman suing Hanford contractors over her thyroid cancer, whose request for an expedited federal trial was denied last year by a Spokane judge, lies near death in a Longview, … 12
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Hanford downwinder Clark moved to hospice care
February 4, 2011 in News, City A woman suing Hanford contractors over her thyroid cancer, whose request for an expedited federal trial was denied last year by a Spokane judge, lies near death in a Longview, … 4
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Deputies say deaths may be suicides
December 15, 2010 in City on Page A6 The Chattaroy couple found dead in a trailer home Friday tried to commit suicide in mid-October by overdosing on medication, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said. The … 1
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Heavy security part of Hanford plant’s past
November 28, 2010 in City on Page B2 HANFORD, Wash. – The Plutonium Finishing Plant at Hanford has lost much of its sinister look. Metal detectors, razor wire, guns and dogs have become part of its past.
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Highly contaminated soil found at Hanford
November 18, 2010 in Region Workers have found a nasty surprise beneath a Hanford building just north of Richland – highly contaminated soil from an undiscovered leak. 4
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Workers find more radioactivity at Hanford site
November 17, 2010 in Region Workers cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site have discovered an area of soil so radioactive it exceeds lethal limits tenfold, the U.S. Department of Energy announced today with … 2
