The Hanford Nuclear Reservation, located in eastern Washington State on traditional lands of the Yakama Nation, Umatilla, Nimíipuu (Nez Perce People), and the Wanapum band, is one of the most contaminated places in the world. Hanford is where the U.S. built the world’s first full-scale production nuclear reactor and produced plutonium for the atomic weapon dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in August 1945.
During the five-decade nuclear arms race, the U.S. government built more nuclear reactors at Hanford and generated high level radioactive wastes that are stored on site, while releasing contaminants into the Columbia River. Today, Hanford still houses most of the U.S.’s high level nuclear waste. Since 1989, cleanup efforts have been underway, plagued by the enormity and extent of the contamination and by shifts in political will. The devastating impacts on tribal lands are studied in Washington State's K-12 John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial curriculum.
Research related to Hanford crosses disciplines; within the Web of Science Core Collection, the most common areas include: nuclear science technology, environmental sciences, chemistry, astronomy/astrophysics, public health, materials science, and water resources.
Between the government documents available in Western Libraries’ collection and online; books in the Northwest Collection; the Libraries’ subscription databases and journals; and the background research resources we’ve compiled, researchers have a lot to get started with. We encourage students and faculty to reach out to us for support with finding sources to support your research about Hanford.
Western Libraries holds physical copies of two series of environmental reports about the Hanford Nuclear Site published by the Department of Energy in the 1940s through 1980s. As of summer 2025, the physical copies of the reports are available in the Northwest Collection (fourth floor of Wilson Library), but many do not yet appear in OneSearch. Use the spreadsheet below to locate specific documents within each report series.
