the five hundred ninety six square mile hanford site sits in the desert of southeastern washington state the site was home to several native american indian tribes for centuries then the white man cometh and started making nuclear weapons there and one nine hundred forty three that continued up until one thousand nine hundred seventy when the last reactor stopped operating producing all of those nuclear weapons left solid and liquid uclear waste which now pose a threat to the entire area including the columbia river which is great by this site the department of energy cleaned up a bunch of the review active place but a lot of the area is still contaminated one of those hot spots is hanford's s reactor the deal he just released its proposal for how to clean it up ready for it their plan is just to leave the contaminants there and let them naturally break down and just to keep an eye on it all for two hundred and sixty four years because that's how long it would take for the area to be in the clear that's the deal we use all some clean up plan they say the conditions don't pose a risk to l

what better way than to release radiation in hanford. they started releasing radioactive it in the atmosphere so they could study how, when, where it came down because this is top secret, they are not bothering to tell the people if the area that oh, by the way we'll be putting a lot of radiation into the atmosphere. there were problems. the weather wasn't what they expected or desired. they got more exposure at localites. we hoe that cows drinking from contaminat contaminated pastures to see how the radiation spread around. they did so with considerable secre secrecy. they pretended to be anal specialists from the department of agriculture to check tit. this is in your backyard in the united states. you've got somebody working for the atomic energy commission wanting to check in your house. it's unclear how much damage was actually done. how many people were actually injured. it's also clear that there was probably more radiation released from the normal operations of the plants from 1944 to 1947 they released radiation by another it yo

what better way than to release radiation in hanford. they started releasing radioactive it in the atmosphere so they could study how, when, where it came down because this is top secret, they are not bothering to tell the people if the area that oh, by the way we'll be putting a lot of radiation into the atmosphere. there were problems. the weather wasn't what they expected or desired. they got more exposure at localites. we hoe that cows drinking from contaminat contaminated pastures to see how the radiation spread around. they did so with considerable secre secrecy. they pretended to be anal specialists from the department of agriculture to check tit. this is in your backyard in the united states. you've got somebody working for the atomic energy commission wanting to check in your house. it's unclear how much damage was actually done. how many people were actually injured. it's also clear that there was probably more radiation released from the normal operations of the plants from 1944 to 1947 they released radiation by another it yo

here is a cartoon showing hanford in the 1940s and 'gif50.says yes, sir, it's reassuring to know if we were in any kind of danger here, our government would let us know right away. >> you lose enormous trust when you start dumping radiation out into the field. you're also now using the entire population as your he can pairmental subject. it was done in a number of places. there were explosions, nuclear explosions released to the atmosphere. that impacted holy sites for the pueblo indians who live in close relationship to the land. and there was some concern, some observations that the spanish and native american residents of these areas tended to find themselves more often down stream of the releases than others. before i transition to how we know about this and how the experiments came to light, any questions about the experiments? how many of you knew about these experiments before this class? any of you? word of mouth or reading about them? >> word of mouth. >> word of mouth. >> in another history class. >> okay. the question is how do we

this was not only done in hanford, it was done a number of other places. there were nuclear explosions that were released to the atmosphere that impacted holy sites for the pueblo indians who lived in very close relationship to the land which was obviously in the southwest. and there was some concern and some observations that the spanish and native american residents of these areas tended to find themselves in these areas more downstream than in others. before i transition to how we know about this and how these experiments came to light, any questions about the experiments? how many of you knew about these experiments before this class? word of mouth or reading about them? word of mouth. [ inaudible ] >> they were top secret. there were early reports and rumors that some americans had been injected with plutonium. a congressional report in 1986 was called america's nuclear guinea pigs. fairly land congressional language. a journalist by the name of eileen wilson working for the albuquerque talk tribune wrote about the story the way journalists write abou

this is hanford washington. it's a lovely town. it's on the columbia river. it's remote.and, in 1942, it was the site for a plutonium vat. and for many years, it was a place where a lot of plutonium was made. it was picked for a couple of reasons. one is there was ready access to fresh water for cooling. columbia river. second reason is, it was out of the way. if you're making plutonium, and plutonium is top secret, it's out of the way. here's a billboard that says don't talk. silence means security. loose talk is a chain reaction for espionage. this is how they advertise themselves. atomic frontier days, a new life on the old frontier. recall that the soviet union exploded its first bomb in 1949. how did we know what they were doing? we know what they were doing because the radiation, when you put it up in the at mos feesh, it spreads all over the world and we can pick up evidence of radioactivity here. how do we interpret that? well, that's hard. we wanted to if i can your out what radiation was like when it was put into the atmosphere. how did it come down? where did i

plutonium was coming from the hanford reactors in huge amounts at that point. you could calculate all of these things. we needed this much, and it's going to take this long to fabricate it. so he was ready for many more than just two. but he thought two would initially be probably enough, but it wasn't going to stop there. he continued to make them. >> thank you. my name is kathleen sullivan. i'm here with the hibaksha stories project. i would like to invite us to broaden our perspective. you know, when i look at this truman's nuclear legacy, i also think we could easily say humans' nuclear legacy. i think that if one concedes that nuclear weapons are a weapon of war, then one does not understand what a nuclear weapon is. and i think that while we can speak specifically about hiroshima and nagasaki, those of us who were at the symposium last night heard that the atomic weapons used in hiroshima and nagasaki are still killing survivors to this day. this isn't something that -- a violence that ends in a moment of time. and i think what's particularly interesting

if we look at the one example of hanford in washington state right now, we have that -- vats that are filled with solid, liquid chemical and radioactive waste that are too hot to physically be around. we have literal ticking time bombs as a result of the manhattan project, which we have no idea what to do with. i think the issue of nuclear waste is germane to both nuclear weapons and the nuclear power argument. "solution", the one that has been manufactured and country,d in this which has taken waste primarily from rocky flats, the plutonium .anufacturing plant 25 years later, we have big leaks going on to this day. if we broaden our perspective beyond the decision, if we think about the testimony and how radiation is still killing survivors today, and we bring that forward to our own citizenry, our tax dollars and the production of these materials, these weapons on our own land, and what that has done to u.s. citizens -- the human nuclear legacy. i would like to hear your comments. i think the question is a good one. years, i worked at a place called the natural resources defense cou

and if you follow the path from hanford, washington, or tennessee where the uranium was made, as it made its way to being fabricated into the pieces needed and transported to the forward base from which the bombers left. you see that they are racing for the bomb. there's no doubt about it. there's not a minute lost. and whereas i argue that truman did not authorize officially. there's no piece of paper that say, i, harry truman, authorize the use of the atomic bomb. i don't criticize him for this. what i do criticize him for is take i taking some liberties with the historical facts afterwards and interjecting himself into this process and taking more credit than is historically accurate. what he did do is introduce himself into stopping the bomb. as was mentioned before, once some peace feelers began to be heard from japan after the nagasaki bomb, truman interjected himself and said no more and general marshal told general groves, no more bombs are to be taken upon except upon authorization from president truman. later the term predelegation became known as this process. the real order t

if we look at the one example of hanford in washington state right now, we have vats that are filled with solid liquid chemical and radio active waste that are too hot to physically be around. we have literal ticking time bombs as a result of the manhattan project, which we have no idea what to do with. i think the issue is germane to the nuclear weapons and the nuclear power arguments. and, for example, the one solution, quote, unquote, that has been manufactured and engineered in this country, the waste isolation pilot plant, which has taken waste from rocky flats, the plutonium trigger manufacturing plant and formally in colorado said that waste would be safe for 10,000 years 25 years later. . i think if we broaden the perspective beyond the decision, we think about the testimony and how radiation is still killing survivors today, and we bring that forward to our own citizenry. and these weapons on our own land and what that's done to u.s. citizens. the human nuclear legacy. i'd like to hear your comments. >> i think the question is a good one. and for about 30 years, i worked at

reactor site such a pleasant place the hanford site right where they built nukes and a radiated animals but the deal we just want to leave the mess there and keep controls in place like testing the soil now and then and making sure no one digs around there for two hundred sixty four years that's how long it will take for the contamination to no longer pose a threat to drinking water in the deal he's planned so that should end well right you know it's bad enough that we do these things in the first place all in the name of war at the very least the government owes it to the land and to humanity to clean up after its deplaned imaginations but they won't even do that it makes you wonder what they see in dio we stands for anyway tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the rest of. the. world. it's technology innovations all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. hello there i'm marinating this is boom bust and these are some of the stories that we're tracking for you today. first up we're talking about debt in all its forms and glory today the good

reactor site such a pleasant place this hanford site right where they built nukes and a radiated animals but the deal he just wants to leave the mess there and keep controls in place like testing the soil now and then and making sure no one digs around there for two hundred sixty four years that's how long it will take for the contamination to no longer pose a threat to drinking water in the deal he's planned so that should end well right you know it's bad enough that we do these things in the first place all in the name of the war at the very least the government owes it to the land and to humanity to clean up after its deplaned imaginations but they won't even do that it makes you wonder what they eat indio wheat stands for anyway tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the rest of. you. if you open your. and look around the world seems to be getting pretty and saying pretty soon there won't be anywhere left for anthony bourdain to visit without getting shrapnel in his keen wa. kaliz countries seem to be at war with other countries or threatening war or acting awkwa

and this information has been referred to the local district attorneys office here in hanford, so we can address your concerns. i want to make sure you understand why you're going to be detained here and the d.a. process. do you have any other concerns, sir? >> this -- it's just -- >> do you have any other concerns? >> no other concerns, besides the fact that -- >> thank you. you have a nice day. >> it seems it's going to be overlooked again. >> ed duane's cellmate and co-defendant in the murder case is more outspoken with his displeasure about the charges. >> that man right there is part of it. that's the man right there. captain fields. you can take a picture of him. >> you know you're wrong. >> what did i do? >> you know you're wrong, fields. you know me and these four brothers haven't done anything. you know that. there is no way possible. i showed you the time restraints. >> while i was at smith's cell door, his cellmate took the opportunity to vent a little bit on me, and understanding that these inmates need the opportunity to vent, he took his opportunity. >> i've come to you

and if you follow the path from hanford, washington, or tennessee where the uranium was made, as it made its way to being fabricated into the pieces needed and transported to the forward base from which the bombers left. you see that they are racing for the bomb. there's no doubt about it. there's not a minute lost. and whereas i argue that truman did not authorize officially. there's no piece of paper that say, i, harry truman, authorize the use of the atomic bomb. i don't criticize him for this. what i do criticize him for is take i taking some liberties with the historical facts afterwards and interjecting himself into this process and taking more credit than is historically accurate. what he did do is introduce himself into stopping the bomb. as was mentioned before, once some peace feelers began to be heard from japan after the nagasaki bomb, truman interjected himself and said no more and general marshal told general groves, no more bombs are to be taken upon except upon authorization from president truman. later the term predelegation became known as this process. the real order t

already spent countless billions of dollars cleaning up the mess that was made at rocky flats at hanford, oak ridge, smaller places. it will be long before all of us are gone before they even begin to make a dent in this but it's fueled the department of energy a great deal on the clean up. as far as testing, you know, people were exposed. the things desert rock exercises in nevada, they had soldiers in trenches charging mushroom clouds and what they thinking? there are many leg assies to say nothing of what the russians did. if we did it this way you can imagine how the russians did it. they did it in a horrible way. dumping all sorts of nasty things all over the place. so their legacy is even worse than ours. there are some other legacies among the british, french, chinese or anybody else that decides to go for the bomb. the person who asked the question, raised a very good point that the legacy endures and we have to think beyond what happened in august, 1945. >> it is a very important and valid point of as i alluded to, you have to bare in mind, the weapons in existence in 1945 are t

so already the assembly line was open and plutonium was coming from the hanford reactors in huge amountspoint, and you could calculate all of these things. we needed this much and it's going to take this long to fabricate it, get is off the titanium. so he was really for many more than just the two, but he thought two would initially be probably enough, but he wasn't going to stop there and he continued to make them. >>> next here on c-span 3, a discussion on women's suffrage. the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote was ratified on august 18, 1920. the national archives in washington, d.c. this evening is hosting a panel of historians and women leaders to commemorate the 9 9 th anniversary. they'll examine how women suffrage has impacted the role of women in politics and society. among the speaker, the executive director of the league of women voters, nancy tate. just getting under way live here on c-span 3.

if you follow the path from hanford washington, or from oak ridge tennessee where the highly enrichedranium was made, as it made its way to loss alamos, where it was fabricated into the pieces that were needed and transported to continuian island, the forward base from which the bomb eers left, you s they are racing for the bomb. there's not a minute lost, and whereas i argue that truman did not authorize officially -- there's no piece of paper that says i, harry truman, authorize the use of the atomic bomb. when the bomb went off. he was in the middle of the atlantic ocean. i don't criticize him for this. what i do criticize him for is taking some liberties with the historical facts afterwards and interjecting himself into this process and taking more credit than is historically accurate. what he did do was interject himself into stopping the use of the bomb. as was mentioned before, once some peace feelers began to be heard from japan after the nagasaki bomb, truman better jected himself and said no more, and general marshall told general groves no more bombs are to be taken to tinn

specifically built for the government like a plutonium works on the columbia river in washington state near hanfordwashington, a site to which we will return. let's turn now to events at the university of chicago. not very far from where we're sitting right here. let's turn to stag field. this is stag field in 1927. university of chicago played there. anybody know who the first person to win the heisman trophy was and where he went to school? obviously the answer is the university of chicago. jay ber wanger won the heisman at the university of chicago. the university of chicago is a founding member of the big ten football conference. they eventually -- here we see some action taking place out