The Manhattan Project is one of the most (in)famous government projects in American history. Charged with the task of creating a bomb that would definitively end WWII, the United States government gathered some of the greatest physicists of all time, including Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, and Enrico Fermi. Even after the atomic bomb was successfully made, tested at home, and deployed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, work from the Manhattan Project guided the massive arms race during the Cold War.

While most people are familiar with this aspect of atomic bomb development, not many people know the resources and facilities it took to support this research. In this blog, I want to discuss the role that a small town in Hanford, Washington played in the atomic bomb project.

Located in the Pacific Northwest, Hanford was the major plutonium production site throughout the whole Cold War. By the time it was phased out in 1990, it had produced 74 tons of plutonium, which comprised over two-thirds of the existing nuclear weapon stockpile. But nuclear sites cannot be completely forgotten until they successfully manage to find a way to store waste- a problem that is even more pronounced in Hanford due to the size of their operations.  Currently, there are 56 million gallons of radioactive waste sitting under the site. Mitigating the inevitable environmental impacts has made Hanford the largest cleanup project in US history.

Thus far, only 7.5 million of the 56 million gallons has been transferred to more modern storage pipes; the vast majority remains in tanks that are leaking at a rate of 300 gallons a year. Even though officials have tried to downplay the radiation by labelling it as unharmful, the science says that Hanford has higher rates of endocrine problems and cancer due to pollution. Additionally, since the town is situated in close proximity to the Columbia River, the pollution runs off into the whole watershed, impacting a much larger area. In particular, the Native Americans who fish in the Columbia River are also disproportionately impacted by the direct impact to their food supply.

So far, the only possible solution that has been suggested involves converting the liquid waste into solid waste, and burying those bars somewhere else. The plan would cause $80 billion, and take forty years to work. Additionally, for 40 years, no human workers would be able to step into the facility.

The plan is imperfect, with over 362 points of possible failure. But for a community stuck with the next Chernobyl under their feet, it may be their only hope.

Introduction

Situated two-thirds of the way from the United States east coast and London, England, Iceland is one of the most geographically and culturally unique places on earth. Above ground, the island nation is covered in artic ice and glaciers, as well as beautiful meadows and valleys. Below ground, the scene is just as fascinating; lying on the junction of two tectonic plates, Iceland is a hub of geothermal activity as magma constantly churns under the surface. In this post, I want to explore how the unique geographic characteristics of the nation influence its infrastructure.

Energy Sources

One of the most sustainable countries in the world, almost all of Iceland’s electricity and energy comes from renewable sources, as shown in the graphic below. According to the Icelandic government, 73% of electricity production in 2015 was from hydropower, while 27% was from geothermal.

When looking at all energy consumption, renewable still dominates: 85% of the energy consumed comes from renewable sources, with 65% coming from geothermal and 20% coming from hydropower.

One of the most important factors in facilitating such a clean energy supply are the natural resources at Iceland’s disposal. As mentioned previously, the nation sits on a crucible of tectonic plate activity, providing almost endless amounts of energy in the form of heat. To give a simple explanation, the magma stored deep underground heats water reservoirs, making hot steam rise. This steam can either be used to spin a turbine and make electricity (figure on top), or it can be funneled into pipes and transported directly to towns for heating (figure on bottom).

Hydropower, the other major source of energy in the country, is also enabled by natural circumstances. Because 11% of Iceland is covered in glaciers, seasonal melts cause the formation of rapid rivers, providing ample amounts of kinetic energy that can be converted to electricity.

But the existing infrastructure didn’t spring up over night. For decades, Iceland relied on the same fossil fuels of oil, coal, and natural gas as the rest of the world. What, then, caused the shift? Although concern for the environment is certainly the main reason for the maintaining the infrastructure right now, it was the 1970’s oil crisis that really stimulated growth in renewable technology in Iceland. When oil-producing nations formed OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) to assert power over the world markets in the 1970s, economies all over the world were disrupted. Small nations like Iceland, which relied almost solely on imports of foreign sources of energy, were hit the hardest. Therefore, Iceland’s renewable infrastructure is based almost purely on economic value than moral merit.