“Atomic Frontier Days”

John M. Findlay & Bruce W. Hevly

At some point I may have to run through the database here and figure out what percent of reviews tagged “history” are also tagged “nuclear”. And then how many have the much more specific tag “Hanford Site”. I’ve got an area of interest, you see; considering how nearby it is, one of these days I really ought to make a trip out there, and have a photography post join that collection.1

This was a fun one, which I stumbled across entirely by accident—I was looking for a copy of Atomic Days and instead came up with Atomic Frontier Days. Which was, in point of fact, about the same thing—the history of the Hanford Site. Having not yet read Atomic Days, I can’t do the direct comparison, but reviewing the cover blurb thereof, I suspect that the distinction will be something Atomic Frontier Days was leaning hard into: it’s not just about the “woo, look at how awful Hanford was, look at all the ways it polluted the area and was terrible to the people who lived there!”

And, sure, that’s present, but this also had a lot more discussion of the other side of the story. People were proud to work at Hanford; they were contributing to national defense, they were on the cutting edge of technology, they were pioneers in a way that wasn’t really a thing anymore.

Past that, there were people looking at the ‘company town’ nature of the tri-cities, and trying to avoid the problems that always face company towns. What happens when the company goes out of business? What happens when the Cold War ends and we no longer “need” to keep manufacturing nuclear weapons? Even if the plan is just “last one out the door, turn off the lights”… moving to a more established city isn’t cheap, and it’s pretty hard to get a good sale price on your home when everyone is moving away. So, instead, the folks who liked living there said: how do we diversify our economy? What else can we do here that isn’t just “work at Hanford”?

It’s an interesting perspective, and one I haven’t thought much about before. Honestly, the final chapter kinda sold me on going out there for the sort of tourism I’d usually do over in eastern Oregon; I love the Columbia Gorge, so why not go see some more of it and also poke my nose around a historical area of interest?

That said, the one flaw I felt in this book was that it felt like it ended at about 2000. Given that it was published in 2011, it does feel like there could’ve been a bit more mention of the aughts, at least. Even just some notes in the epilogue would’ve been nice.

Still, I enjoyed the read; if you want to join me in being a big ol’ Hanford nerd, check it out.2

Well, it wouldn’t be tagged ‘review,’ within the way I use that tag. I’m not much of a location-reviewer. ↩