Hanford to Fukushima: Part 2

This is part 2 of a 4 part series about the Hanford nuclear site in Washington State.  We hope the series will help those in Japan achieve a better understanding of nuclear releases and be able to benefit from the experiences of the victims of Hanford as they deal with their own current circumstances related to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.

Part 2: Hanford exposures

People in the area including many of the workers at Hanford were never informed of the releases. They were not informed of the potential risks to their health by living in the region. 

Releases into the air:
The plutonium extraction process released radioactive iodine 131 directly into the environment. Filters were only implemented much later in 1948 as more was understood about the risks. The installed filtration did not completely eliminate radioactive releases. These releases carried radioactive iodine 131 in the wind to southeastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and British Columbia. The populations downwind were never informed of these releases or given any information to lower their risks. The bulk of the releases were during a 5 month period during the early operation of the plant.

During the first 10 years, Hanford released more than 530,000 curies of radioactive iodine 131 into the air. A total of 740,000 curies of radioactive iodine 131 are estimated to have been released into the air between 1944 and 1972. As comparison the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster released between 15 to 24 curies of iodine 131. Chernobyl released between 35 million to 49 million curies of iodine 131. Iodine 131 was not the only substance released into the air and water around Hanford. Releases at Hanford included plutonium that traveled as far away as Spokane and Mt. Rainier

To put the releases into more familiar terms the following are expressed as becquerels:
530,000 curies = 19,610 terabecquerels
740,000 curies = 27,380 terabecquerels

For comparison Fukushima Daiichi’s daily releases in April 2011 were 154 terabecquerels per day:
Hanford released on average 977 terabecquerels per year.
Hanford released an average of 2.67 terabecquerels per day.
As Fukushima Daiichi is brought more under control it is expected the releases to the air will decrease.

Iodine 131 was not the only thing released into the air. The radioactive isotopes listed in the following table were also released into the air.

TABLE I
HEDR Estimates of Radiation Released into the Air by Hanford, 1944-1972
*the amounts released are averaged based on a low to high range.

Radionuclide                               Amount Released (curies)           Half-Life
Iodine-131                                   740,000                                         8 days
Tritium (H-3)                             200,000                                         12 years
Cobalt-60                                    1                                                       5 years
Krypton-85                                 19,000,000                                   11 years
Strontium-89                              700                                                 50 days
Strontium-90                              64                                                   29 years
Zirconium-95                              1,200                                              64 days
Ruthenium-103                          1,200                                              39 days
Ruthenium-106                          390                                                 370 days
Iodine-129                                   46                                                   16 million years
Tellurium-132                             4,000                                             78 hours
Xenon-133                                   420,000                                        5 days
Cesium-137                                  42                                                  30 years
Cerium-144                                  3,800                                            284 days
Plutonium-239                            1.8                                                  24,000 years

The releases at Hanford will have slightly different total makeups and ratios because plutonium extraction processing was involved at Hanford and Hanford also did not experience a meltdown. A meltdown can release different radioactive compounds than an operating reactor. These values for Hanford at least give an idea what people were exposed to and in what quantities.

Releases in the water:
The reactors required a large volume of water for cooling. These crude reactors did not have an isolated heat exchange system like modern nuclear power plants do today. Water was drawn in from the river, used to cool the reactor and then pumped into a holding pond. The water was held for up to 6 hours. This allowed some of the very short lived radioactive isotopes to die off,  leaving the long lived ones were still in the water as they put it back in the river. This was kept top secret by the government while several terabecquerels of radiation were released into the river every day.

Radiation was measured hundreds of miles downstream at the Washington and Oregon coasts. As more reactors were brought online and their output increased the water contamination grew worse. No ban on fishing was ever imposed even though many years during the 1950’s and 1960’s the radiation levels in the river exceeded Hanford’s own limits where they were supposed to alert the public but they never did. Native American tribes downriver routinely ate fish from the contaminated river, not knowing the risk they were taking.

HEDR estimated that five radioactive substances accounted for most of the dose people received from the Columbia River. They are zinc-65, arsenic-76, phosphorus-32, sodium-24 and neptunium-239.

HEDR Estimates of Radiation Released into the Columbia River by Hanford, 1944-1971

Radionuclide                          Amount Released (curies)                     Half-Life
Sodium-24                             13,000,000                                             15 hours
Phosphorus-32                      230,000                                                  14 days
Scandium-46                         120,000                                                   84 days
Chromium-51                        7,200,000                                               28 days
Manganese-56                      80,000,000                                             2.7 hours
Zinc-65                                 490,000                                                   245 days
Gallium-72                            3,700,000                                                14 hours
Arsenic-76                            2,500,00                                                   26 hours
Yttrium-90                           450,000                                                   64 hours
Iodine-131                           48,000                                                      8 days
Neptunium-239                   6,300,000                                               2.4 days

Other radioactive substances such as beryllium were known to have been released but accurate amounts are not known. Beryllium was involved in a number of worker illnesses at Hanford.

Animals were experimented on at Hanford. Sheep and cows were fed radioactive feed to see how the radiation impacted their health, the meat and the milk of the animals. Sheep would be fed iodine 131 contaminated feed and then have their thyroids scanned. Dogs and even alligators were experimented on at Hanford. Years later a tank full of radioactive animal corpses was found at Hanford among the other radioactive waste.

The biggest single release ever at Hanford was the secret “Green Run” in 1949. The Green Run released an estimated 8,000 curies (296 becquerels) of iodine 131 over a two day period. The Green Run remains mostly a secret. The government released information admitting the event happened in 1986 but a large amount of critical information still remains classified today. Extrapolated information on the Green Run states that it was a secret US Air Force experiment to test their radiation detection technology. The Green Run was done soon after the first Soviet atomic weapons test. It is thought that the experiment was testing a technology that would detect plutonium production so the US could find Soviet plutonium production facilities.

The experiment was conducted by taking fresh (green) fuel. Instead of letting it cool to decay the radiation for 90-100 days, it was only held for 16 days. This short decay time created the large releases of iodine 131 used in the experiment.

The public was never informed of the release nor given any precautionary warnings that could have allowed people to protect themselves. They became an unwilling and unknowing participant in this secret military experiment.

Decades later it is still not known what official ordered the experiment or what military unit participated in the test.

Check back tomorrow for part 3, The radioactive releases and exposures at Hanford

 

Series bibliography and additional reading:
Hanford’s fallout: increased thyroid risks – Hanford Nuclear Site, Washingtonhttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n3_v138/ai_9227959/

Hanford Nuclear Site Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site

Members of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments November 6, 1994 “An Analysis of the Green Run”
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet8/brief8/tab_h/br8h7.txt

Green Run Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Run

Hanford Challenge
http://www.hanfordchallenge.org/the-big-issues/tank-waste/

NYT Radiation Flowed 200 Miles to Sea, Study Finds Published: July 17, 1992http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/17/us/radiation-flowed-200-miles-to-sea-study-finds.html

Hanford Animal Studies of Radioiodine Radiat Prot Dosimetry (1995) 60(4): 295-305R.O. McClellan
http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/4/295.abstract

Meeting about beryllium exposure set for Monday By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/03/13/1914107/meeting-about-beryllium-exposure.html

The release of radioactive materials at Hanford
http://hanford-downwinders.tribe.net/thread/788190be-1d41-4e64-bc5b-178494b07e54

US to access the harm from Hanford
http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/U-S-to-assess-the-harm-from-Hanford-1233257.php

Tri Cities Washington Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-Cities,_Washington

Physicians for Social Responsibility
http://www.psr.org/chapters/oregon/peace-and-security/hanford.html

US to access harm from Hanford
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/U-S-to-assess-the-harm-from-Hanford-1233257.php#ixzz1UrWFz6TJ

Fukushima 1 Nuke Plant: 154 Terabecquerels per day, every day
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-154.html

Greg Mitchell, Countdown To Hiroshima – Article Series at The Nationhttp://www.thenation.com/blogs/media-fix

More Reading:

Hanford Downwinders Group
http://www.downwinders.com/

Hanford downwinders
http://hanford-downwinders.tribe.net/thread/788190be-1d41-4e64-bc5b-178494b07e54

Hanford Challenge:
http://www.hanfordchallenge.org/

The Hanford Downwinders Information Site:
http://www.angelfire.com/art2/downwinder/

Downwinders United:
http://web.mac.com/marydickson/Downwinders_United/Home.html

Hanford environmental reporthttp://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/environmental/2009ar.pdf

Hanford thyroid CDC study
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/hanford/htdsweb/

Scientist review of the CDC reporthttp://www.downwinders.com/files/htds_expert_report.pdf

National Acadamies of Science documents on Hanford
http://search.nap.edu/napsearch.php?term=Hanford+Thyroid+Disease+Study&x=15&y=10

Physicians for Social Responsibility on Hanford and underestimated doses
http://www.psr.org/chapters/washington/hanford/hanford-and-human-health.htmlhttp://www.psr.org/chapters/washington/hanford/hanford-facts.htmlhttp://www.psr.org/chapters/washington/hanford/hanford-and-environmental.html

EPA decontaminationhttp://www.epa.gov/osp/presentations/homesec11/hs_Snyder2.pdf

Oxford journal on animal testing at Hanfordhttp://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/4/295.full.pdf

Animal testing at Hanford, carcasses found
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Workers-uncover-carcasses-of-Hanford-test-animals-1225341.php

Hanford and Idaho admitted research studieshttp://hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/OHRE/roadmap/experiments/0491docc.html

Hanford article – lots of datahttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n3_v138/ai_9227959/

Data on downwinders, bomb tests data and Hanfordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downwinders

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists – Making Warheads
Google Books

Hanford cover upshttp://www.hanfordchallenge.org/cmsAdmin/uploads/1992_Atomic_Deception_HEAL.pdf

Radiation releases
http://hanford-downwinders.tribe.net/thread/788190be-1d41-4e64-bc5b-178494b07e54

Downwind bomb tests Utah – results on lambshttp://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/utah_today/nucleartestingandthedownwinders.html

Nat Cancer Inst on iodine cancers
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/causes/i131

Iodine uptake into cows milk
http://www.cancer.gov/i131/fallout/Chapter4.pdf

Environmental data study – fish – veggies etc
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/environmental/2009ar.pdf

Heart of America Northwest – Hanford Cleanup
http://www.hoanw.org/index.cfm

Hanford Watch
http://www.hanfordwatch.org/index.htm

Community-Based Participatory Health Survey of Hanford, WA, Downwinders: A Model for Citizen Empowerment
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08941920490452526

FDA iodine guide
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/ucm080542.pdf

Wiki on protective iodine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_iodide

WHO rad iodine standardshttp://m.zimbio.com/Potassium+Iodide+Pills/articles/WbZrBFWtQM4/Japan+must+distribute+iodine+tablets+now+expert

CRIIRAD – iodine ingestion totals
http://tinyurl.com/3cv5mer

Thyroid Cancer: a comprehensive guide to clinical management
Google Books

Secret Fallout online by Ernest Sternglass with a section on Hanford:
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/SecretFallout/

Killing Our Own online by Harvey Wasserman and Norman Solomon
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/KillingOurOwn/

Some Hanford incidents:
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1962USA1.html
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1976USA2.html

Hanford environmental testing
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/rp-publ.htm#envradHealth Safety Security

DOE
http://www.hss.energy.gov/

OpenNet
https://www.osti.gov/opennet/index.jsp

Documents
http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/OfficialDocumentsHanford

DOE FOIA
http://www.hanford.gov/

Photos of Hanford

http://www.hanford.gov/c.cfm/photogallery

documents FOIA
http://www.hanford.gov/?page=73

Admin records, public info
http://www5.hanford.gov/arpir/