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Cleaning Up the Cold War’s Nuclear Legacy at Hanford https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/military/a-glass-nightmare-cleaning-up-the-cold-wars-nuclear-legacy-at-

Cleaning Up the Cold War’s Nuclear Legacy at Hanford https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/military/a-glass-nightmare-cleaning-up-the-cold-wars-nuclear-legacy-at-hanford https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/military/a-glass-nightma... "During Hanford’s plutonium-production heyday, workers discharged some 1.7 trillion liters of waste liquids into soil disposal sites, which developed into vast underground plumes of toxic chemicals, including the carcinogens hexavalent chromium and carbon tetrachloride [PDF], that infiltrated aquifers."

scottlamb 6y ago
Interesting that the two chemicals mentioned in that quote aren't radioactive. Carbon tetrachloride apparently was once used as a household spot cleaner, [1] so I think it's fair to say folks who dealt with nuclear waste would have been relatively unconcerned with carbon tetrachloride. Of course, knowing what we do now, they absolutely are dangerous. It's horrible they've leaked into the aquifer. Reminds me of the trichloroethylene plumes in Silicon Valley. Also a solvent once considered pretty benign, now known to be a carcinogen. (And actually linked to quite a few cancer cases I believe, unlike many chemicals "known to the state of California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.") [1] https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=194&tid=35#:~:text=In%20the%20past%2C%20carbon%20tetrachloride,to%20kill%20insects%20in%20grain https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=194&tid=35#:~:text=....