Hanford Archives Expands Its Focus Researchers Plan To Collect Health Histories Of Radiation Victims From Around The World

An archive of information gathered from people who believe they were hurt by radiation from the Hanford nuclear reservation will be expanded to collect data worldwide.

The proposed Radiation Health Effects Archives will be formally announced Oct. 11 at Gonzaga University’s Foley Center Library, which also houses the Hanford Health Information Archives.

The new archives will collect health histories of people from around the world for others to study, said Tom Carter, the administrator of both archives.

The archives will try to obtain stories, health records and other information from people exposed to radiation in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Nevada, the South Pacific and other areas.

The Radiation Health Effects Archives is being set up as a nonprofit organization and will have to raise its own money, Carter said.

The Hanford Health Information Archives is funded by the federal government until Sept. 30, 1998. After that, the Hanford archives will probably have to find its own funding as well, Carter said.

A preliminary estimate is the two archives would cost about $200,000 a year to operate, Carter said.

The Hanford archive contains medical records, oral histories, journals, photos and other information from people who lived downwind from Hanford’s radiation releases from 1943 to 1972.

The Hanford archives have gathered information from about 1,100 people who lived downwind of the Hanford site.

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