Seth Ellingsworth figured he was set for life. He was 22 and had just landed a coveted factory job in the company town he’d grown up in. Now, at 35, Ellingsworth spends most days beset by tremors, struggling for oxygen, frequently confined to the ground floor of his home in Richland, Washington. It’s just outside his former place of work: the Hanford Nuclear Site.
I produced this story on a series of visits to the Tri-Cities, home to Washington State's Hanford Nuclear Site, where I spent time with people who claimed to have fallen ill on the job. It was paired online with a written story with additional reporting and was also edited for local radio distribution. It was part of a series called Battle Ready: The Military's Environmental Legacy in the Northwest, an interactive documentary that received a regional Edward R. Murrow award for innovative storytelling.
Roles: Producer / Cinematographer / Editor