Legacy of WWII nuclear arms race drives US cleanup efforts

Wall Street Journal : More than 70 years after World War II, the US is still working to clean up the radioactive contamination left from its nuclear weapons research and development. So far, some 130 sites scattered across the US have been deemed dangerous enough to warrant a major cleanup. Many, such as the University of California, Berkeley, where plutonium was first isolated, are in urban areas where countless people over the years may have been exposed to radioactive residue. Because of inconsistent record keeping, the number of government agencies and private companies involved, and the fact that sometimes a single site requires additional cleanups, the effort is becoming the longest running and most expensive ever attempted by the US government. The total cost could run as high as $350 billion. And despite all the time, money, and effort involved, the long-term health risks for those exposed remains unknown. John R. Emshwiller and Jeremy Singer-Vine, writing for the Wall Street Journal, provide an in-depth investigation into the US cleanup efforts.