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Hanford Nuclear Reservation
Mon July 18, 2011
New book looks at Hanford’s role in the Atomic Age
RICHLAND, Wash. – A new book explores how southeast Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation helped shape the Atomic Age. It's called "Made in Hanford: The bomb that changed the world."
Hill Williams says perhaps the most surprising thing he found through his research was how closely linked his life has been to the development of nuclear weapons.
When he was in high school, some of the early workers at the sprawling Hanford Nuclear Reservation stayed as borders in his family's home. Williams said his family knew little about them or what jobs they did because of the site's secrecy during World War II.
"And now I'm watching the cleanup. I'm not sure that I would have ever thought that that would happen," Williams said. "Course they weren't as careful as disposing the waste then as they try to be now."
In his book, Williams also describes covering nuclear events as a newspaper reporter, including test bombs in Nevada and the Marshal Islands.
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