Hanford Communities serves as an intergovernmental cooperative of the Tri-Cities and local counties aimed at bringing Hanford Site news, updates and education to citizens of this community.
With a workforce of over 11,000 strong and a landscape where things are always changing, it’s important for community members to stay in the know. And that’s where our mission takes form.
Led by elected officials and senior staff from our local governments, this community representation helps steer and direct the priorities that impact the lives of Tri-Citians. The goals of this organization include:
- Coordinating local government involvement in Department of Energy decision-making on issues affecting this community
- Evaluating reports and findings, issuing position papers, preparing letters and testimony and sponsor activities to inform local citizens about Hanford-related environmental health, safety and socio-economic issues
- Increasing public awareness and involvement in Hanford cleanup issues
- Interacting with the Department of Energy, the Washington State Department of Ecology, the EPA and others regarding Hanford environmental contamination, remediation, waste management, emergency response and workforce and site transition issues
- Providing technical and analytical resources to review, evaluate and monitor conditions and policies at Hanford
Our area’s population is growing each year and not everyone knows the full depth and complex history surrounding the Hanford Site. This history, combined with strides made over the last three decades, are shaping a cleanup mission with a lot of moving parts that will pave the way for the next several years. But to know where we’re going, it’s important to know where we’ve been. This is why we set out to produce a series of videos that tell Hanford’s story, provide an overview of the tank farms that house most of Hanford’s nuclear waste, and explain the facilities and process that will treat and dispose of the waste.
While there is a very full and complicated history to share, we did our best to present abbreviated overviews told by local historians, community members and leaders. Please watch and share the first video in this series, titled Hanford 101 – An Introduction. In this video, we recap Hanford’s nuclear history and the cleanup efforts that continue to this day.
