Hanford is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2013.
Hanford is a US government facility which produced the plutonium which was used to build the first atomic bombs during World War Two.
The Hanford facility is located in a remote area in Washington state.
Construction of the facility began in 1943. In 1945, when the war ended, Hanford was not closed down.
World War Two was followed by the Cold War between east and west. Nuclear weapons were regarded as necessary to maintain the balance between the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union.
Production at Hanford continued.
The size of the Hanford facility was greatly increased.
When the Cold War ended around 1989 and 1990, Hanford was finally closed down, but the facility had and still has a dark legacy:
** The environment has been polluted by a huge amount of nuclear waste
** The health of the people who worked at the Hanford facility has been undermined.
This film covers the history of the Hanford facility from the founding in 1943 (during World War Two) until the present time (the beginning of the twenty-first century).
This film also covers many aspects of the main topic, including the dark legacy of the facility.
Here is some basic information about it:
** Producer and writer: Nadine Jelsing
** Narrator: Peter Coyote
** Production: Oregon Experience
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Available on the PBS website
** Run time: 59 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in the film. Here are the names of the participants (in alphabetical order):
** Steve Buckingham = a chemist
** Ross Fabre = Hanford B-reactor tour manager
** Michele Gerber = a historian and an author
** Walt Grisham = a local resident
** Manfred Lindner = a nuclear chemist
** Matt McCormick = manager, Department of Energy, Hanford Richland Operations Office
** Bill McCullough = a reactor specialist
** C. J. Mitchell = Construction and Human Resources
** Burt Pierard = a local resident
** Claude Rawlings = a local resident
** Don Skelton = a local resident
** Monty Stratton = an electrical engineer
** Mona Wright = Department of Energy, Hanford archaeologist
The US plan to build an atomic bomb was a top-secret project whose code name was Manhattan, but very few people knew what it was and what it was trying to do.
Today, the most famous location associated with the Manhattan project is Los Alamos in New Mexico where a group of scientists were trying to build an atomic bomb. But Los Alamos was not the only location where the project was taking place.
Hanford in Washington state played an important role, because this facility produced the plutonium which the scientists needed to build the bomb.
In 1943, the government was looking for a remote area which was near a large supply of water. They found what they were looking for at the Hanford site.
However, the area was not completely deserted. There was a small town whose inhabitants were quickly evacuated.
The site was near a river which offered access to water which was a necessary condition.
A new town was built on the site next to the facility. Many workers were needed for this project.
Under normal conditions, the US government would only hire white men to perform such a task. But the times were not normal. Many young men were not available. They were in the armed forces fighting the war. But Hanford needed staff. The normal rules were suspended.
Hanford hired not only men, also women. Not only white people, also people of color.
The work at the facility was divided into several separate compartments. Each worker knew what he or she was doing, but they did not know anything about the work that was done in other compartments.
This arrangement was made to increase security and to maintain a high level of secrecy.
Workers were not allowed to talk about their work. All they were allowed to say in public was that they were working for the government and that the work was connected with the war. Most workers had no idea what the real purpose of the facility was.
If a worker accidentally revealed something about his or her work, the damage would be limited, because each worker only knew a small part of the whole picture.
If a worker deliberately revealed something about his or her work to a foreign spy, the enemy could not use the information, because what was revealed was only one small part of the whole picture.
Since Hanford was located in a remote area, the government decided to do everything possible to make the workers feel good.
The government was afraid that workers would be bored at the remote location and walk away. It was important to take good care of them.
The government used several means to make the workers feel good:
** The pay was higher than average
** The food served in the canteen was better than average
** During the week, the workers were expected to work hard, but during the weekend, the facility offered free entertainment: sometimes a movie was shown; sometimes there was a dance and a live band was playing.
The government appealed to the patriotism of the workers:
Do this for your country!
But the government realized that patriotism was not always enough, so they decided to add something to the package to make the workers feel good, while they were working at the site.
During the Cold War (1945-1990), the size of the facility was increased. Production was increased. Pollution of the environment was also increased. Workers were often exposed to hazardous materials.
But in the early years, environmental problems and the health of the workers were not given a high priority. These issues were not a major concern.
As time went by, this approach and this attitude would cause huge problems for the environment and for the health of the workers.
As stated above, this film covers the history of the Hanford facility: during World War Two, during the Cold War, and during the time after the Cold War, when the facility was finally closed down.
As stated above, this film also covers the dark legacy of the Hanford facility: the environmental problems caused by a large amount of nuclear waste.
The participants are well-chosen. Each participant offers information about different aspects of the main topic and the problems connected with the production of nuclear weapons.
The narrator Peter Coyote is well-chosen; he has a pleasant voice. This is why he is often used as a narrator of documentary films.
If you are interested in the history of the modern world – in particular the history of the Cold War between east and west – this film is definitely something for you.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent)
RESOURCES
# 1. Books
On the Home Front: The Cold War Legacy of the Hanford Nuclear Site by Michele Gerber (first published 1992) (third revised edition 2007)
Made in Hanford: The Bomb that Changed the World by Hill Williams (2011)
Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West by John M. Findlay and Bruce W. Hevly (2011) (2015)
Something Extraordinary: A Short History of the Manhattan Project, Hanford, and the B-Reactor by Robert L. Ferguson and C. Mark Smith (2019)
The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices from the Fight for Atomic Justice by Trisha T. Pritikin (with a foreword by Richard C. Eymann) (2020)
The Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age by Steve Olson (2020)
# 2. Film and Video
Secret Mission: Hanford
Director: Jim Zimmer
Narrator: Joel Weldon
KSPS documentaries
57 minutes, 2010
Hanford
Writer, producer and director: Augustin Dulauroy
52 minutes, 2022
Several short items about the Hanford Nuclear Site are available on YouTube
# 3. Items available on the internet
Karen Dorn Steele,
“Hanford: America’s Nuclear Graveyard,”
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
Vol. 45, no. 8, 1989, pages 14-23
Ronan Farrow and Rich McHugh,
“Welcome to the Most Toxic Place in America,”
NBC News, 29 November 2016
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Website = icanw.org
** Part one = 26 July 2019
** Part two = 29 July 2019
** Part three = 30 October 2019
John Stang, “Hanford report reveals problem with nuclear waste solution,” Crosscut, 11 April 2022
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Welcome to Hanford
US Department of Energy
Where Safety Comes First
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Caution!
Radiation Area
and
Contamination Area
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The Hanford Nuclear Site in
Washington state
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