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The Hanford Nuclear Reservation, one of the original Manhattan Project sites, is located on the Columbia River in Washington State just north of the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco). During World War II and the Cold War (1947-1991) the nuclear site released plumes of radioactive iodine into the air and the Columbia River. It was mainly deposited in farming areas north and east of Richland, Washington. Residents in affected areas were not advised that radioactive material in the region was suspected to cause health problems among the general population.

Background of Radioactive Releases

At the beginning of Hanford operations, the potential threat of radioactive releases to the atmosphere was not understood nor appreciated. The production process started with the manufacture of aluminum jacket cylindrical fuel cells each packed with uranium U239 along with a small percentage of a uranium isotope U235. Bombardment of neutrons in the U239/235 mix by slow neutrons created a flux of high radiation energy and heat that would gradually transform the U-239 into Plutonium 239. The Pu239 was converted into a nitrate compound for further processing in one of four processing plants and finally into the plutonium finishing plant for conversion into the finished product of pure plutonium about the size of a hockey puck.

Radioactive byproducts contaminated both nearby water supplies and air. The reactors had all been constructed near the Columbia River for easy access to water to avoid overheating. After passing through the reactors, the water, which had become contaminated with highly radioactive nuclides, was discharged back into the river. Many other radioactive byproducts were created inside the fuel cells, including Iodine 131, a radioactive gas which is known to be injurious to the thyroid gland. The gaseous releases and particles, including these byproducts, were released into the atmosphere via 200 foot high stacks. The exhaust traveled up several feet into the airstream, beyond the boundaries of the Hanford site, before settling low enough to expose the workers. There was no concern initially about what damage may, or may not, have been caused by the plume traveling downwind (beyond the site). It was not until four years into operations that attempts were made to filter out the I-131 before releasing the gases into the atmosphere.

Each day the operators compiled a written report of all operational incidents, both on-site and off-site. These reports were usually given a designation of Hanford Works (HW) followed by a sequential number. There were thousands of reports created over forty years of operation (1943 – 1987). Between 1992 and 2002, a compilation of off-site reports was extracted from the full set of operational reports by historian, Michele Gerber, Ph.D. She discovered that the operators had done testing on animals, including testing of sheep grazing in nearby pastures contaminated by Hanford releases, to determine the maximum exposure before thyroid injury occurs. The operators discovered that damage occurred to the thyroid glands when exposure to I-131 exceeded releases of one curie per day from Hanford operations. The operators acknowledge in their written reports that there were numerous days during 1945, the 1950s, and early 1960s in which the releases exceeded the safe limit of one curie per day. Some days exceeded the safe limit by ten times, while many days exceeded the safe limit by hundreds of times. The days of excess contamination, known to be harmful to downwind residents, were not just rogue actions by individuals but were done with full knowledge of Hanford management at the highest levels.

Litigation Against Hanford

In 1986, a Freedom of Information Act case resulted in the release of approximately 40,000 Department of Energy documents revealing that there had been chemical releases and radioactive contamination releases from the Hanford Nuclear site.

In 1989, a legal case began as Tom H. Foulds became one of the original attorneys to represent plaintiffs suffering from illnesses related to radiation exposure. The cases were consolidated and handled among 19 attorneys, but a class action suit was never filed because too many different kinds of cancers and thyroid illnesses were represented.