Here are some more photos from inside the B Reactor.
But that’s not why I went to the Hanford Site. I went because every year the Yakama Nation visits the site for a cultural event they call Hanford Journey.
See, for thousands of years, this wasn’t the Hanford Site. It was a winter camp, a hunting site, and a place of #Indigenous ceremony. Yakama folks remember it that way, and come out here to keep that memory alive.
The event is also a chance to help educate the youth about generations-long cleanup efforts.
Above ground, the sagebrush steppe here is remarkably pristine—because Americans can’t build here anymore. But underground, the soil and groundwater are poisoned with massive plumes of toxic chemicals and radioactive isotopes.
You can explore these crazy fucked up plumes here: https://trac.pnnl.gov/
Tribal nations are pushing government agencies (namely the Department of Energy) to let them inform and participate in cleanup efforts. Right now they’re only allowed to issue public comments on federal cleanup plans (and even that is more influence than they used to get).
Yakama’s efforts began with an elder named Russell Jim, who’s no longer with us. But he’s a wonderful speaker and you can listen to interviews with him here:
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/russell-jims-interview/
Jim’s cleanup efforts now extend into future generations. The Yakama Nation is sending youth to Los Alamos, #NewMexico, (another site in the Manhattan Project) to learn about their toxic inheritance, and hiring interns to work on tribal cleanup efforts. I spoke to one such intern, Josephine Buck, who’s trying to ensure that federal cleanup activities respect and preserve important cultural sites.
You can read the story here: