02.5
The radioactive core of the F Reactor on the Hanford Site, one of nine nuclear reactors built to make plutonium for nuclear weapons, now sits cocooned in concrete near the banks of the Columbia River in Hanford, Washington, USA, 26 May 2015. It will be another 75 years before the core is safe enough for workers to dismantle it. Established near the end of WW II as part of the Manhattan Project, the Hanford Site is one of the the most toxic nuclear sites in the Western Hemisphere. The federal cleanup effort at the sprawling complex is expected to last until the year 2060 and cost American taxpayers $150 billion dollars (146 billion Euros).