Reply #10: I have been there a number of times, its not that bad

[ThomWV]

There are odd things, particularly as you first enter the site. There are old buildings, and then the shut-down reactors by the river. Then you go inland through much high desert. There is not much of anything there until there is something definitely there. You might run across a tank farm, or one of the Canyons, you might see the hull sections of nuclear submarines lines up all in a row in their eternal grave. Its a hell of a pit.

The problem is the river of course. The waste tanks leaked for decades and that stuff - and it is nasty beyond description in every way you can imagine and then in some ways only god can imagine - finds its way into the water table and finally in the river. Nobody in their right mind would eat anything that came out of that river.

The worst thing that Hanford ever did was hurry up the process and use exposed ponds. Many people can tell you the rest but from my way of thinking the worst thing that happened was that airborne materials from the site found their way into cows milk from dairy operations within hundreds of miles to the south and east.

Anyway, when you go into potentially hot areas you are screened on exit, they are very serious about exposure. More than one person has had to leave their shoes behind.