About the Hanford Community Health Project
The Hanford Community Health Project (HCHP) is an outreach and education initiative
sponsored by The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) a division of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The project seeks to provide educational information and materials about potential health
risks to individuals who may have been exposed as young children to past releases of radioactive
iodine (I-131) between 1944 and 1951 from the Hanford Nuclear reservation, which is in
south central Washington state. The project's goal
is to assist concerned individuals and their health care providers in making informed
health care choices concerning these exposures.
Via this Web site and other outreach efforts, the HCHP is working to make information
and educational materials about health risks of exposure to I-131 available to people
who lived in the Hanford region
during the period of the I-131 releases. This Web site makes available materials that
have been developed by several government agencies including, the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Hanford Health Information Network,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute
(NCI).
On this Web site you can read and print fact sheets and brochures about Hanford and
how I-131 can affect the health of those who were exposed to Hanford releases of
I-131; print out an order form to request materials be mailed to you; see other
Web sites that contain useful information about Hanford and I-131; see contact
information for ATSDR and the HCHP team; and also join the HCHP mailing list so
that you will be kept informed about the project.
Although the HCHP is focusing specifically on the Hanford releases of I-131, you
should be aware that there were other Department of Energy facilities besides
Hanford that may have released radioactive Iodine during their operation. These
sites include Oak Ridge, TN; Savannah River Site, GA; and the Nevada Test Site (NTS).
The atomic tests conducted on Marshall Island and tests conducted by Russia and China
are other potential sources of I-131 exposure.
Hanford Birth Cohort Study
People who lived near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State were exposed to various types of radiation, especially during the years 1944–1957. Scientists from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) have been evaluating the potential health effects that may have resulted from those exposures. Their data show a small increased risk for certain men to develop a thyroid disease.
The results of the study are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed yet. To view the complete study and the news release on the study, click on the links below:
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