Keep up to date on Hanford news & events on our blog!

Our website is designed to give you the information and resources to help you

• to understand the issues at Hanford
• to be an active citizen
• 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).

KING5 Seattle News Spots on Hanford! (2.5.2010)
King5 News' environmental reporter, Gary Chittim, had two spots on Hanford that aired on Friday, February 5th.  The first, a discussion of stimulus dollars at Hanford (the single largest recipient of stimulus funds in the nation) with an interview of HOANW's Executive Director, Gerry Pollet, and the second, an interesting look inside Hanford's tank farms.

Chronic Beryllium Disease Rates Increasing Among Hanford Workers (2.5.2010)
Heart of America Northwest hopes that this increased pressure will result in an independent investigation of Hanford's beryllium protection program.  A total of 32 Hanford workers have been diagnosed with chronic beryllium disease, an incurable lung disease caused by the inhalation of fine beryllium dusts that settle in the lungs and cause damage.

Climate Change & Economy Portend Revival of US Nuke Power? (1.25.2010)
This special report run by McClatchey News on the politics and costs of nuclear power in the federal climate change legislation is well worth reading.

More Hanford Downwinders' Claims to go to Trial (1.21.2010)
A recent article in the Tri-City Herald reports that Spokane judge William Fremming Nielsen will hear more claims concerning health problems resulting from radioactive emissions from Hanford. There are nearly 2,000 pending claims in the 19-year-old case.