Radioactive Waste Cleanup Continues At Hanford Nuclear Reservation

RICHLAND, WA - JUNE 30: The Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility is seen at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation June 30, 2005 near Richland, Washington. The landfill is used to discard contaminated soil, building materials and debris from cleanup work at the rate of 600,000 tons per year. Hanford was a plutonium production complex that played a key role in the nation's defense beginning in the 1940's with the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb and continued for 40 years. The cleanup of the Hanford site is under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy with annual cleanup costs of $2 billion and an estimated total cost of $50 billion to $60 billion. (Photo by Jeff T. Green/Getty Images)