IndexThe Nuclear Waste ProblemHanford Nuclear SiteEnvironmental DisasterHumanitarian DisasterThe Cleanup EffortPublic AwarenessSupporting Nuclear Waste CleanupIt's like something out of a science fiction movie. Nuclear waste – hundreds of millions of liters – has been buried underground since the Cold War. Years later, it threatens to contaminate the main sources of food and water for an entire nation. The government spends billions every year on cleanup initiatives, but still struggles to find a solution. And the public remains largely unaware of the existence of the problem. Unfortunately it's not fiction. All of the above is happening right now on (and under) American soil. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Nuclear waste is not, as some might suspect, a problem confined to several failed laboratories in the middle of nowhere. One in three Americans lives within 50 miles of high-level nuclear waste. Some of it, like plutonium, is deadly dangerous and will remain in circulation for about 250,000 years. The Problem with Nuclear Waste The problem with nuclear waste is this: Since it started being produced in the 1940s, the United States has not found a way to get rid of it or even store it safely. Storage facilities old and new are failing, leaking radioactive material into the land and water around them. Cleanup efforts are always underway, but funding, while substantial, is inadequate. And every day, this waste spreads further into farms, cities and major rivers that are used for irrigation and drinking water. The Center for Strategic and International Studies states this rather politely. “Our failure to address the political challenges of waste undermines our energy, environmental and national security policies. “But the potential cost of this disaster is incalculable. At best, some areas could become uninhabitable for many years. In a worst-case scenario, millions of Americans could be exposed to the effects of radiation poisoning that last for generations. To put the situation in perspective, let's take a closer look at an example of contamination. Some call it “The Most Toxic Place in America.” Nuclear experts have called it “an underground Chernobyl, waiting to happen.” But to the public it is known simply as the Hanford site. Hanford Nuclear Site The Hanford Site, or Hanford Project, was once one of the largest nuclear facilities in the world. Founded in Washington State in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, it produced the plutonium used in the bomb detonated over Nagasaki and in the tests that preceded it. The facility was further expanded during the Cold War, eventually including nine nuclear reactors and five massive plutonium production complexes. Hanford was largely dismantled after the Cold War, but decades of production left behind 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste. This waste was stored in lead tanks buried underground. Environmental disaster Years later, in 2010, these underground tanks were discovered to be leaking more than 640 gallons of waste per year into the earth. This waste is currently seeping through the soil into the Columbia River, one of America's largest. One million people live in the 42 cities and towns located below Hanford on the Columbia River. Every day they draw 5,000 cubic feet per second of drinking water directly from that river. There are also over 8,000 farms under Hanford, State of.