One Hundred Miles From Home: Nuclear Contamination in the Communities of the Ohio River Valley: Moun

by Carol Rainey, Wendell Berry (Foreword)

Since the 1950s Cincinnati has been the "hub" of nuclear developments in the Ohio River Valley. At the beginning of the Cold War, state and local political leaders were eager to acquire government contracts, having little awareness of the dangers of radioactive materials. In the 1950s the New York Times referred to the region as "Atom Valley." At the present time six locations which were involved in nuclear weapons production in the early years are responding to the radioactive and chemical contamination of the land and water. Two of the sites are being considered as possible locations for new nuclear installations, which would bring the threat of future contamination. This book tells the stories of the six sites.

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[J.R. Dodson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously a bit of bias here (understandably!) but the review and inclusion of resources and Ohio river focus was both informative and thought-provoking.

[David Garza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living in Cincinnati, OH, I found this book very interesting and informative. The book addresses six sites centered around the Cincinnati area in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky that have been involved in one of the many steps of uranium processing, use, and disposal for military, defense, and energy purposes. I was aware of about half of the sites, but the rest were new discoveries for me. It was interesting to learn how many of the facilities covered in the book were actually tied together as part of a larger chain of research, development, processing, manufacturing, use, waste, and disposal of uranium and other radioactive elements and material. It never occurred to me that these facilities were strategically and specifically placed in close proximity to each other in a Midwestern area; I had always assumed that sites like these were prevalent throughout the country in different areas. Seeing the connection now, I start to put the pieces together as to why there were also four Nike missile sites strategically placed around the same area, with Cincinnati as a center.