This project was completed in August 1998 and resulted in the book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, edited by Stephen I. Schwartz. These project pages are only occasionally updated and should be considered hisorical.


Scientists at the Savannah River Laboratory in South Carolina use "master-slave manipulators" to handle radioactive materials


The radioactive materials — fuel elements from the Savannah River Site's production reactors — are situated behind about 12 inches (30 centimeters) of leaded glass and concrete. From 1952 to 1988, the five production reactors at Savannah River produced 36.1 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium and a classified amount of tritium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

Credit: Department of Energy (courtesy Natural Resources Defense Council)