Pulling History from the Waste Stream: Identification and Collection of Manhattan Project and Cold War Era Artifacts on the Hanford Site
- Mission Support Alliance, Richland, WA (United States)
One man's trash is another man's treasure. Not everything called "waste" is meant for the refuse pile. The mission of the Curation Program is at direct odds with the remediation objectives of the Hanford Site. While others are busily tearing down and burying the Site's physical structures and their associated contents, the Curation Program seeks to preserve the tangible elements of the Site's history from these structures for future generations before they flow into the waste stream. Under the provisions of a Programmatic Agreement, Cultural Resources staff initiated a project to identify and collect artifacts and archives that have historic or interpretive value in documenting the role of the Hanford Site throughout the Manhattan Project and Cold War Era. The genesis of Hanford's modern day Curation Program, its evolution over nearly two decades, issues encountered, and lessons learned along the way -- particularly the importance of upper management advocacy, when and how identification efforts should be accomplished, the challenges of working within a radiological setting, and the importance of first hand information -- are presented.
- Research Organization:
- Hanford Site (HNF), Richland, WA (United States); Mission Support Alliance, Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC06-09RL14728
- OSTI ID:
- 1105961
- Report Number(s):
- HNF-56382-FP-Rev0; WM-2014-14085; TRN: US1400397
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2014 Waste Management Symposia, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 2-6 Mar 2014; Related Information: Number 14085
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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