Joshua Frank’s Atomic Days: the Untold story of the most toxic place in America describes the history of and the ongoing efforts to clean up the Hanford nuclear site in the state of Washington. As someone who had never heard of Hanford until a few years ago, I think the history of Hanford and what is happening there now are things every American should learn.
During the 1940s, when the United States began developing nuclear weapons, the government needed a place to process and store nuclear waste. In Hanford, Washington, the government found the place it needed. Hanford was not very developed. The Columbia River offered an ample water supply. Most importantly, to the United States government most of the people who would lose their land and suffer the risk of nuclear poisoning were Native Americans.
For more than 70 years, the United States has misrepresented the dangers facing the Pacific Northwest as a result of all of the toxins stored at Hanford. For more than 70 years, the United States has covered up or outright lied about chemical spills at Hanford. For more than 70 years, the United States has largely tried to ignore the high rates of cancer on the part of Hanford employees and those living in nearby communities. Those looking for bipartisanship in Washington, DC, can find appreciation in Hanford. After all, both parties have lied about dangers and knowingly subjected people to sickness and disease while allowing contractors to make billions for projects never done well or completed.
As Frank’s work makes clear, we are one very possible accident at Hanford away from Americans having to deal with the greatest manmade disaster in history. Until it happens, though, it is unlikely the government of the United States will do anything responsible to prevent it.
I couldn’t leave a review of Atomic Days without mentioning the nuclear experiments the United States government knowingly carried out on some of its citizens. The idea that people were injected with plutonium without their knowledge or consent so the government could study the affect of plutonium on the body is absolutely disgraceful. The reality that the government of the United States deliberately released toxins into the air and water around Hanford to carry out more studies is despicable.
Honestly, when you know the true history of the United States, it’s hard to see much daylight between much of what the United States has done and what the Nazis did.
Atomic Days is not an easy read. If you have a conscience it will make you angry. Still, Atomic Days is a book worth reading. If we don’t start holding politicians accountable for what is happening at Hanford, all of our lives are literally at risk. Especially those of us living in the Pacific Northwest.