Atomic Days, by Joshua Frank

Review by Dave Gamrath

One-liner:  In his book Atomic Days, The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America, author Joshua Frank makes clear that Hanford, WA, the site where most of America’s plutonium was produced, is not only the most polluted place on the planet, but is also a clear and present danger to the Pacific Northwest.

Book Review: 

America’s atomic weapon production began during World War II, and most are aware of the devastation to Japan when America dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  In his book Atomic Days, The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America, author Joshua Frank describes the nuclear devastation in Hanford, WA, where the plutonium used in America’s nuclear arsenal was produced.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have recovered, but Hanford remains the most polluted place on the planet.

Three nuclear reactors were built at Hanford during World War II.  Afterwards, as part of the Cold War, nine additional nuclear reactors were built there, as well as two additional weapons facilities.  “From 1956 to 1965, Hanford operated at peak capacity, producing sixty-three short tons of plutonium that fueled virtually all of the United States nuclear arsenal.”  As Frank makes clear, the production of plutonium comes with a huge amount of nuclear waste.  To temporarily store this waste, 177 underground storage tanks were constructed at Hanford.  Most of these tanks are within a few miles of the Columbia River. 

By the time Hanford’s last nuclear reactor shutdown in 1987, the US had over 21,000 nuclear warheads.  “Nuclear weapons made up almost 30 percent of all military spending from 1940 to 1996, $5.5 trillion of an $18.7 trillion total.”  But the US did very little to prepare for the aftermath of nuclear production.  Investment was not made to determine how to safely dispose of nuclear waste.  As a result, Hanford has become a 586-square mile nuclear disaster zone, filled with radioactive chemical sewage.  Cleaning up Hanford has become the most expensive environmental cleanup project in global history.

The magnitude of nuclear waste at Hanford is staggering, and includes over 525 million gallons of tank waste, and 25 million cubic feet of toxic buried solid waste.  There have been a multitude of leaks and accidents at Hanford, many of which have been kept secret from the public.  Frank provides example after example, including the nearly 130 million gallons of waste that was discharged into the soil between 1946 and 1958.  Much of this waste went untreated and polluted local aquifers.  Stress and corrosion are causing storage tanks to leak, and new leaks are happening all the time.  Frank describes Hanford as a “Chernobyl-like disaster-in-waiting.”

Nuclear waste remains toxic for thousands of years, but ironically, effective disposal methods have yet to be developed.  Frank explains that the best available disposal option is turning Hanford’s radioactive liquids into glass.  To accomplish this, the construction of a Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) began at Hanford in 2002, was scheduled to be completed by 2011, and the conversion of millions of gallons of radioactive sediment into glass rods was scheduled to be completed by 2028.  But this project has been poorly managed, pushing out the fully operational date to 2036, and the date for converting the waste to glass to 2048.  The current WTP cost estimate is $41 billion, but this estimate keeps rising.

The WTP is just one of many examples of the extraordinary mismanagement and continuous overcharging by contractors at Hanford, especially with the prime contractor, Bechtel.  Yet the government continues to fail at providing sufficient oversight, resulting in tens of billions of wasted taxpayer dollars.  Studies have shown that less than half of Bechtel’s projects have met their original objectives.  Bechtel has been fined tens of millions of dollars for overcharging, but these fines are far less than the profits Bechtel makes from “poor performance”.  In 2016, the Department of Energy (DOE) estimated the full cost to cleanup Hanford at $110 billion.  Their current estimate has now increased to between $316 billion to $662 billion. 

Frank tells the stories of several employees that have fallen gravely ill from working at Hanford.  Safety standards have been extremely lax, especially given the magnitude of the risks, which are downplayed by officials.  Frank writes how officials often lied about the findings from their own safety studies.  Employee ailments include cancer, brain damage and scarred lungs.  Cancer rates are far higher than normal in communities surrounding nuclear operations. 

There have been multiple whistleblowers at Hanford, and Frank describes how they were attacked for trying to expose Hanford’s safety hazards.  Whistleblowers tended to be long-term, dedicated employees, including top engineers and scientists, yet consistently faced retaliation from Hanford’s contractors.  Frank writes of the extraordinary courage these whistleblowers exhibited, exposing horrific safety violations, as contractors put profits above basic safety measures. 

Frank also tells the story of the efforts of indigenous people to stop the polluting of their lands.  Throughout American history, Native Americans were seen as expendable.  Chronic diseases related to exposure to nuclear materials have been rampant in nearby tribes.  Led by Russell Jim, a member of the Yakima Nation, native Americans have achieved some success in lobbying against Hanford. 

To combat climate change, many are now proposing the world turn back to “carbon-free” nuclear energy.  Frank writes that returning to nuclear energy is like “destroying the planet to save the planet.”  When considering the full life cycle impact of nuclear energy, including the damage caused through mining nuclear materials, the carbon released through the manufacture and operation of nuclear energy facilities, and the difficulties with the disposal of nuclear waste, Frank argues that nuclear is a terrible energy option.  Frank acknowledges that full life cycle assessment of solar and wind energy shows these “green energy solutions” also come with much harm, but Frank believes the risks from nuclear are far higher.  The current Russian attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear plants is just another example of the risk with nuclear energy. 

So where does cleaning up Hanford stand today?  In 2020, the DOE proposed that up to 80 percent of the waste in Hanford’s leaking tanks should be reclassified as “low level”, so that nuclear waste could be turned into a grout-like substance instead of into glass rods.  This is a step backwards.  Frank provides evidence and examples as to how this approach has been a failure at securing nuclear waste. 

Frank closes by providing his own recommendations.  First is a complete system overhaul at Hanford, and the removal of Bechtel as lead contractor.  Hanford needs more government and corporate accountability, and more public oversight.  That’s the key:  the public must be made aware just how dire the situation really is.  Frank states that “it’s up to us, the public” to make sure Hanford is cleaned up in an effective, transparent, and equitable way.  If the public continues to ignore this, Hanford will remain a nuclear wasteland and an extreme risk to the Pacific Northwest.

Reviewer Opinion: 

Frank packs a lot of details into a relatively short book.

Reviewer Rating of Book:  thumb up