What is Hanford?

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is a 586-square mile site, about half the size of Rhode Island, on the Columbia River in southeastern Washington. It is owned by the federal government and operated by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE). Hanford is a former nuclear weapons facility that produced plutonium for atomic bombs. It is the most contaminated nuclear site in the Western Hemisphere. Its radioactive and toxic wastes pose serious health and environmental threats to the Northwest. In 1987, Hanford's plutonium-production mission ended. Hanford is now the world's largest environmental cleanup project.

The History of Hanford

Enter this section for a chronology by WPSR on the history of Hanford. From its initial inception and building to today's cleanup, this section provides a concise and clear narrative on how Hanford came to be.

Challenge of Hanford and Health

The booklet is an overview of Hanford history, environmental damage, potential health impacts and cleanup progress created by Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. While this booklet was updated and re-released in 2007, it continues to be one of the Washington State Department of Ecology's most recommended hard copy sources of information on Hanford.

Visit the Challenge of Hanford and Health page for more information.

Memorabilia

Memorabilia What people were thinking, doing and living. See Posters, T-shirts, Bumper Stickers, and News Articles from the 1940s-1980s. Courtesy of Jack Buchans.