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51°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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Ten managers indicted in Hanford timecard scheme
March 28, 2013 in City on Page A6 RICHLAND – A federal grand jury has indicted 10 current or former managers and supervisors for a contractor at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, accusing them of enabling timecard … 2
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Hanford contractor CH2M Hill to pay $18.5 million for fraud
March 7, 2013 in City on Page A5 Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday a deal to have the world’s largest engineering firm, CH2M Hill, pay $18.5 million to resolve criminal and civil violations arising from a scheme to overbill … 6
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Hanford waste may move
March 7, 2013 in City, Nation/World on Page A1 RICHLAND – Federal officials are looking to ship some 3 million gallons of radioactive waste from Washington state to New Mexico, giving the government more flexibility to deal with leaking … 11
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Budget cuts threaten work at leaking nuke tanks
March 6, 2013 in Region RICHLAND, Wash. — Washington’s governor prepared to travel to the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site to learn more about leaking radioactive waste tanks there today, a day after federal officials … 21
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Spin Control: Explaining Hanford takes pivot to hoops
March 3, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – As most of official Olympia stared at their computers Thursday morning awaiting the state Supremes’ decision on tax supermajorities, a handful of legislators got a briefing on something … 3
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Inslee: Six nuke-waste tanks leaking at Hanford
February 22, 2013 in Region YAKIMA — Six underground radioactive waste tanks at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site are leaking, Gov. Jay Inslee said today. 25
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New Hanford leak found
February 16, 2013 in City on Page A1 OLYMPIA – A new leak has been discovered in a nuclear waste storage tank at Hanford. Gov. Jay Inslee, in a hastily called news conference, said he was advised of … 20
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New leak discovered at Hanford
February 15, 2013 in City A new leak has been discovered in a nuclear waste storage tank at Hanford, authorities disclosed today. 22
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Report rips Hanford work
January 20, 2013 in City on Page B3 RICHLAND – A strongly worded new report from a congressional watchdog agency questions whether an often-delayed and increasingly expensive waste treatment plant at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site can … 1
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Hanford manager replaced
November 25, 2012 in City on Page B2 RICHLAND – A top U.S. Department of Energy manager at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has been replaced by the manager of the department’s Los Alamos Site Office in New Mexico. … 1
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Hanford documents show possible safety violations
November 22, 2012 in Region An investigation by the U.S. Energy Department has found that San Francisco engineering firm Bechtel may have committed a wide range of safety and health violations at a plant it … 1
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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
