In 2008 Washington artists, Doug Gast and Zach Mazur, organized Chain Reaction: The Hanford Project- a two-person art exhibition featuring a multi-media installation by Doug Gast and large format photographs by Zach Mazur. The goal of this exhibition is three-fold: to examine the Hanford Nuclear Reservation's influence on the surrounding region, to educate the public about Hanford's enviornmental impacts, and to experiment with what happens when artists use one of the world's most toxic sites as the primary inspiration for their creative influence.

As the biggest nuclear waste facility in the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has become the world’s largest environmental cleanup effort. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, Hanford produced plutonium for nuclear weapons in reactors located along the Columbia River.

Today, around 50 million gallons of radioactive waste contained in underground tanks within the site represent nearly two-thirds of the nation's high-level radioactive waste by volume. According to some studies, about one million gallons of this tank waste has leaked into the surrounding ground-water and is expected to reach the Columbia River in 12 to 50 years. Hence, Hanford's present status as a major EPA Superfund site. Their primary goal: to help protect the Columbia River from contamination.