Hanford

MOST URGENT SAFETY PROBLEM The most urgent safety problem at the U.S. nuclear weapons production complex today is the risk of explosions in liquid, highly radioactive waste stored in underground steel tanks. The waste, a witch's brew of intensely radioactive elements mixed with toxic chemicals, is the byproduct of "reprocessing" which extracts plutonium and other nuclear materials from spent nuclear reactor fuel for use in nuclear weapons. Scott Saleska & Arjun Makhijani

LINKAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS This dilemma illustrates how closely Hanford's environmental problems are linked, and how attempts to address one can worsen others. And the fact that a restart is even contemplated, given the existing tank problems, raises the question of whether the Energy Department should be in charge of solving the deadliest safety problem in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Scott Saleska & Arjun Makhijani

LEARNING OF HEALTH RISKS FORTY YEARS TOO LATE In early July, Columbia Basin old timers who farm in the shadow of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in south central Washington were preparing for the summer harvest when they heard a dramatic government admission. Energy Secretary James Watkins acknowledged for the first time that heavy emissions of radioactive iodine 131 in the late 1940s were dangerous enough to cause thyroid cancers and other illnesses in people living downwind of Hanford's plutonium production plants. Karen Dorn Steele

MAJOR HEALTH STUDIES BEGIN IN THE 1990s An ambitious nationwide search for those most susceptible to damage from the iodine emissions is about to begin. Most at risk are the 6,800 children, now 44-48 years old, who were born in Benton, Franklin, and Walla Walla counties in 1942-46. Others from later years may also be included, and Native Americans living in the area who consumed wild plants and animals may be studied separately Karen Dorn Steele

Timing of Health Studies The proper priority National security Health of the downwinders A balance of both if possible