Plutopia
by Kate Brown · first published 2013
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Compares plutonium production at Hanford, near Richland, Washington, and at Ozyorsk, Russia, covering health and environmental consequences; useful for readers interested in lesser-known irradiated communities.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In Plutopia, Brown draws on official records and dozens of interviews to tell the stories of Richland, Washington and Ozersk, Russia-the first two cities in the world to produce plutonium. To contain secrets, American and Soviet leaders created plutopias--communities of nuclear families living in highly-subsidized, limited-access atomic cities. Brown shows that the plants' segregation of permanent and temporary workers and of nuclear and non-nuclear zones created a bubble of immunity, where dumps and accidents were glossed over and plant managers freely embezzled and polluted. In four decades,
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Semi-related: If you're interested in the topic, I highly recommend "Plutopia" [1] book which describes in great detail the history of plutonium production, and the consequences of it, near Richland, Washington and Ozyorsk (Russia). It significantly changed my view on the nuclear…
on “Long-Term Thinking and Nuclear Waste” ↗…dedicated to secret work on nuclear technology. There's also the same social tension between highly skilled workers, transient unskilled workers, and the military/political leadership. (For anyone interested, Plutopia by Kate Brown is a good read on the subject) I wonder if this site in the Gobi ended up having the same problems with radioactive contamination from accidents and unethical experiments that Hanford and…
on “Growing up in "404 Not Found": China's nuclear city in the Gobi Desert” ↗I recommend Plutopia by Kate Brown for those interested in relatively unknown irradiated communities comparable to Chernobyl.
on “Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?” ↗You might enjoy the book Plutopia by Kate Brown.
on “New evidence of Japan's effort to build atom bomb at the end of WWII” ↗I will second the Plutopia recommendation, with a caution. The author tries too hard (IMO) sometimes to narratively equate Richland and Ozyorsk in terms of contamination. By the numbers -- and there are numbers in the book -- Ozyorsk…
on “Long-Term Thinking and Nuclear Waste” ↗…water straight out into the river and contaminated areas downstream. The authoritative book on Hanford[0] is published by the DOE. Another excellent book on Hanford and its "sister city" in Russia is Plutopia[1]. [0] https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc737111/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutopia
on “People living near former atomic weapon plant in WA have increased cancer rates” ↗Thanks. Adding that book to my list. Two other good books about early nuclear weapon manufacturing: “Plutopia” and “Making a real killing: Rocky flats and the nuclear west”. Plutopia focuses on Hanford and is quite eye opening. It also compares and contrasts the early American and Soviet programs
on “How the Manhattan Project’s Nuclear Suburb Stayed Secret” ↗…were exposed to by time pressures and lack of oversight. That same community was also fiercely protective of their employers and resisted health/environmental oversight by "outsiders." (See Kate Brown's Plutopia for a fascinating history.)
on “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Plans to Tie Its Own Hands” ↗Not so long ago I read an excellent book, Plutopia [0], which went into detail about the development and management of Hanford. Alongside that story, it tells a parallel narrative about Ozersk -- a similarly polluted nuclear town in Russia. The book does…
on “Highly radioactive spill near Richland WA worse than expected” ↗I read Plutopia about 2 years ago and at certain points I recall searching Google Scholar and HathiTrust for further quantitative information about the Ozyorsk and Richland sites and other topics raised in the book.…
on “Long-Term Thinking and Nuclear Waste” ↗