Welcome to Heart of America Northwest, “The Public’s Voice for Hanford Clean-Up!” We are a 16,000 member citizens’ group: providing research and leading organizing, legal and lobbying efforts in the region and nationally for cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation; protecting the Northwest and Columbia River from the threat to resume using Hanford as a national radioactive and radioactive hazardous waste dump; and, working for a safe and clean energy future to reduce global warming without creating more nuclear waste.

Our website is designed to give you the information and resources to help you understand, to be an active citizen, and to comment on, Hanford and nuclear waste issues.

Hanford is the most contaminated area in the Western hemisphere. Today radioactive and toxic contamination flows into the Columbia River, which flows through Hanford for fifty miles, at levels as high as 1,500 times the federal Drinking Water Standard. Over a million gallons of deadly liquid High-Level Nuclear Waste has leaked from tanks at Hanford, and over 120 million gallons of these deadly wastes was dumped into the soil. The contamination is spreading towards the River faster than the federal Energy Department (USDOE) claimed was possible.

Heart of America Northwest believes in “Clean-Up First!” - requiring the massive amounts of existing wastes to be brought into compliance and cleaned up before allowing USDOE to dump more waste at Hanford. Please read on, and do not hesitate to call or send us any questions or suggestions. Please join us and sign up to receive email action alerts and to volunteer (we can use volunteers anywhere in the Northwest).

  - Panel concerned about Hanford landfill limits - (6/15/2009)

  - FFTF shutdown completely at Hanford -(6/3/2009)

Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) has gone quiet. Work was completed to shut down the research reactor, which is a major victory and long fought battle!

 - Will $2 billion speed up Hanford cleanup? - (5/26/2009)

 Learn about the controversy surrounding the stimulus package and the proposal for (pushing back?!) the Hanford clean-up milestones. You can also find information on the history of Hanford and what Hanford officials plan to do with the stimulus money.

 - Washington Post Article - Relies on HOANW research - (5/18/2009)

 Should the very contractors who have failed to meet key Hanford clean-up milestones be paid more money to do the same quality work? Find out about why the stimulus funding is not as good as it seems and why there is the potential for misuse.

  - Citizen's Guide to the Hanford Clean-Up Agreement

 This citizen's guide covers a lot of important information regarding the Tri-Party Agreement negotiations and how YOU can be more involved in the process. Also, be sure to catch up on all the other local and national news on nuclear waste clean-up and YOUR health.

  - More Delays At Hanford Cleanup - (5/15/2009)

 Read this article to get a great recap of the Tri-Party Agreement Public Meeting in Seattle that was on May 12, 2009. Concerns brought up during the meetings included the allocation of the stimulus funds and the immediate need to stop the contamination flowing towards the Columbia River.

  - Our FINAL GNEP PEIS Comments - (3/16/2009)

 Take a peak at some of the GNEP PEIS comments that Heart of America Northwest produced. The comments show that there are many holes in USDOE's GNEP analysis, and will help put the plan into a more holistic perspective.