Historicizing+a+Project_pedlt3


 * Diachronic **

1943: Hanford selected for Manhattan Project’s plutonium production complex. Residents of the area were evicted

1944: Radioactive contamination begins

1949: [|Green Run] – intentional release of 7,780 curies of Iodine-131 and 20,000 curies of xenon-133 as part of an experiment by the Atomic Energy Commission and the military

1951: 34,360- 92,100 curies of Iodine 131 released due to failing filters at Hanford processing plants

1980: Low Level Radioactive Policy Act passed (amended in 1985)

1986: FOIA requests results in massive release of classified documents, in part about Green Run

1987: Screw Nevada Bill

1989: Fall of Berlin Wall

1993: Nominations for Hanford Advisory Board open

2001: Work on vitrification plant begins


 * Sources: **


 * 1) [|http://www.hanfordproject.com/timeline.htm]l
 * 2) []
 * 3) []


 * Synchronic - 2012 **

[|January 26:] Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future publishes their final report

[|March 14:] Sen. Lindsey Graham advocates for bill that would refund Nuclear Waste Fund to rate payers and utilitie because of closure of Yucca mountain project

[|March 22:] At Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board hearing, contractors admit major technical and design issues remain unresolved for the partially constructed $12.2 billion vitrification plant

[|April 3:] US Dept. of Labor creates $1.3 million emergency grant for workers laid off Hanford Workers at the insistence of WA senators

[|April 3:] Disagreement between WA state Ecology Department and the DoE on source and danger of chemicals found in rainwater near leaking box of transuranic waste at the Central Waste Complex at Hanford

[|April 10:] Bechtel announces that they are laying off another 200-300 people working on their waste treatment plant at Hanford. 550 had already been eliminated in previous months

[|April 14:] 8th (out of 149) single shelled tank of radwaste cleaned

[|April 15:] Occupy Portland organizes rally and teach-in in Richland, WA, calling Hanford “North America’s Fukushima”

[|Late April:] Work begins on designing new seismic analysis of Hanford to better understand the risks that an earthquake could present. The last analysis was conducted in 1996.

[|April 27:] Fourth low-level radioactive waste site in US opens in Texas