On the Home Front: The Cold War Legacy of the Hanford Nuclear Site by Michele S. Gerber (review)

On the Home Front is the only comprehensive history of the Hanford Nuclear Site, America's most notorious plutonium production facility. Located in southeastern Washington State, the Hanford Site produced most of the plutonium used in the atomic bombs that effectively ended World War II. This book was made possible by the declassification in the 1980s of tens of thousands of government documents relating to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the site. In a new epilogue, Michele Stenehjem Gerber provides a detailed history and commentary on the first twelve years of the Hanford cleanup project - the largest waste cleanup program in world history. Michele Stenehjem Gerber works in the Public Information Office of Fluor Hanford, Inc. She has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Declassification and has served as a consultant to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Hanford Cultural Resources Management Plan.