PHOTO: Anna King interviewing Jane Hedges, the now-retired head of Washington Ecology’s Hanford office. Hedges grew up swimming off the docks in Richland, but only understood the massive scope of the cleanup needed at Hanford later in life. CREDIT: Kai-Huei Yau / Daughters of Hanford You’ve heard Tri-Cities correspondent Anna King on the radio for years,… Read More
Sue Olson, 94, was a Manhattan Project era secretary at Hanford during World War II. She locked her filing drawer anytime she left her office. CREDIT KAI-HUEI YAU Listen In World War Two, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation was brand new. Sue Olson was there as a young secretary. She took shorthand, pumped out calculations… Read More
Listen Originally published on October 1, 2015 In southeast Washington state, a group of farms has been frozen in time. It’s at Hanford, the area the federal government took over to make plutonium during World War II. “It’s amazing that it’s been preserved in a way by the Manhattan Project,” said archaeologist Ellen Prendergast Kennedy.… Read More
Zelma Maine Jackson says she’s the only African-American woman geologist perhaps for hundreds of miles. KAI-HUEI YAU This story was originally published AUG 4, 2015. In the West, there aren’t a lot of black woman geologists who specialize in uranium deposits and groundwater. Zelma Maine Jackson landed far from her home state of South Carolina,… Read More
Natalie Swan, a member of the Yakama Nation, says Hanford is a special place that will always hold great value for the Yakama people. KAI-HUEI YAU Listen This story originally published JUN 2, 2015 The Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington is one of the most contaminated places on earth. It’s also one of the most sacred… Read More
Shirley Olinger, left, her daughter Sarah McCormick and mother Kazuko [Ozaki] Nishimoto have strong connections with Hanford. KAI-HUEI YAU Listen Wherever she was, she stood out for being half white, or half Japanese. Shirley Olinger will only whisper the racist names she was called as a girl. She was born in Japan to a Japanese… Read More