OPERATION “GREEN RUN” RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT

In 1943, the government conducted a radioactive experiment in southeastern Washington state for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. This area is known as the Hanford site. The federal government moved residents in this area to build plants that produce plutonium. The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, used Hanford Plutonium. In 40 years, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation plant deliberately and accidentally released vast amounts of radioactive materials in the environment.

In 1949, U.S Atomic Energy Commission released Iodine-131 and Xenon-133 into the atmosphere near the Hanford Site in Washington. This caused the contamination of 500,000 acres. Three towns with residents were unknowingly affected by the pollution of radioactive contaminants released from Hanford. It was reported that 5,500 to 12,000 curies of iodine were released across the three towns.

The U.S Department of Energy in released documents in 1986 under the Freedom of Information Act that describe how the radiation had contaminated the air, the Columbia river, and the soil and groundwater. The Hanford's radiation plant released large amounts of Iodine-131 due to a secret military experiment known as "Green Run." Specifically, it was a U.S Air Force Experiment at Hanford that released 7,000 and 12,000 curies of Iodine-131 in the air in 1949. “Green Run” was the name of the experiment, due to the green color produced for a limited time by the short cooling of uranium.

Green Run's purpose was to test the functionality of US Air Force equipment in order to monitor the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons program.          

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