[CPEO-MEF] HISTORY, RADIATION: Hanford (WA) tours

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

American Journeys | Hanford Site, Wash.
Unspoiled Nature in Shadow of a Nuclear Site

By JEFF SCHLEGEL
New York Times
September 4, 2009

Richland, Wash.

THE Hanford Reach National Monument in the arid steppe of south-central 
Washington is a nature lover’s dream with the Columbia River flowing 
wide and free below chalk-white cliffs, an abundance of birds, and 
populations of deer, elk and coyotes. But there’s a twist: It surrounds 
the Hanford nuclear reservation, one of the world’s largest 
environmental clean-up projects.

The 586-square-mile Hanford Site, administered by the United States 
Department of Energy, played a major role in the building of the world’s 
first atomic bomb and produced roughly two-thirds of the plutonium used 
in the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal before operations ceased in the 
1980s. Today it’s home to nine abandoned atomic reactors and tons of 
radioactive waste.

This juxtaposition of spoiled and unspoiled land might bring to mind 
visions of radioactive tumbleweeds. But locals hope the unusual pairing 
of World War II and cold war history with the region’s natural beauty 
will play a bigger role in a tourist trade that already lures visitors 
with its wineries, golf courses, desertlike climate and ample sunshine.

In recent years the Energy Department, which oversees the Hanford Site’s 
cleanup, has opened the area to tours of sites like the B Reactor, the 
world’s first production-scale nuclear reactor. And in 2000 the 195,000 
acres of shrub steppe that surrounds the site was declared a national 
monument. The gateways to the nuclear site, the national monument and 
other attractions are the cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco, which 
hug the Columbia south of Hanford.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/travel/escapes/04Amer.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Unspoiled%20Nature&st=cse

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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