For more than 40 years, the federal government produced plutonium for America's nuclear weapons program at the Hanford Nuclear Site in southeast Washington. The now-decommissioned site is home to immense amounts of radioactive waste - and Oregon has a huge stake in ensuring the safe and timely cleanup. Hanford sits just 35 miles from Oregon's border along the Columbia River.

In what will be a multi-part series, Ken Niles, the Oregon Department of Energy's Assistant Director for Nuclear Safety, shares a brief history of what went on at Hanford in the early 1940s until the late 1980s.

See photos: energyinfo.oregon.gov

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Music: "If" by Broke For Free, http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/