Federal Disposal Field HZ-21

Federal disposal field HZ-21 is a location in the Savage Divide region of Appalachia, situated near the mysterious guidestones.

Background
Federal disposal field HZ-21 was among the first such facilities in the Appalachia region to undergo the 10,000 Years Initiative. The goal of the project was to provide a secure location to dispose of leftover nuclear waste from weapons production and research while ensuring that future inhabitants would be aware that the location is inhospitable to life.

Although the primary goal of the facility was to ensure its security in the event of catastrophic civilization collapse, it was still funded even if such a collapse did not occur, as standard communications can - and do - break down for many reasons over long time periods. Languages are lost to time, or evolve. The creators of the project did not speak the same English spoken one thousand years ago, let alone the same language spoken by their ancestors 10,000 years ago. Combined with the fact that storage media typically become obsolete as technology marches on or fall apart, the challenge of warning those who would inhabit the world 10 millennia later was a major one.

To achieve that goal, the project aimed to create lasting monuments that would convey a sense of danger and harm to those who would come across them. Phase One involved the construction of gigantic concrete spikes, which can withstand weather, erosion and shifting topography, designed to evoke a sense of dread and to discourage building on top of them. Phase Two involved sturdy metal engravings around the perimeter, sealed and treated to withstand harsh conditions. They would include pictograms instead of modern language, in order to clearly convey a sense of danger to life, transcending any potential language barriers millennia later.

Once the site was filled to capacity, it would be sealed and left alone for as long as it presents a danger to life - or at least make it clear that the makers of the project did all that was humanly possible to provide the warnings in the first place. The disposal field disposed of its final waste transfer by September 28th, 2076. However, by October 21st and 22nd, 2077, the message server would continuously go down, and the phone lines had not worked for weeks, leaving a helpless employee unable to deal with further dumpings of dozens of barrels, having them left at the surface level than in the disposal facility itself. What they did not take into account was the pressing need for nuclear material that would permeate the survivors of the Great War.

Layout
The location is a public workshop with claim and defend event quests. Jagged concrete spikes loom around the area. The center of the site, where the main mass of nuclear waste is, is luminescent with radioactivity. Three uranium ore resource deposits can be found in this central area, claiming the public workshop allows the player character to construct mineral extractors on the deposits. The extractors yield 25 units/hour each.

The two-story building contains lockers and showers for the workers, a tinker's workbench, a power armor station and the site director's terminal (Hacker 1). It also contains several hazmat suits, both damaged and intact.

On the roof is what used to be a raider hangout - two raider corpses lying on wooden deck chairs under a dilapidated umbrella overlooking the field. There is also a locked explosives crate (Picklock 1) and a duffle bag on the roof next to another raider corpse.

The workshop area is relatively small and roughly square in shape, with corners marked by the edge of the decon building and the disposal site. It offers food (9), water (4), nuclear material (3), and acid and oil resource nodes (1 each). If Monongah power plant is active, the power box at this site will also supply electricity.

Notable loot

 * Waste problem - Note, in the main building on the ground floor, on a table near the blue machine that has a light.
 * Four hazmat suits and two damaged suits:
 * One suit on the upper floor on the ground next to the shower station.
 * One normal and one damaged suit on a table under the stairs.
 * Two more suits in the lockers.
 * One damaged suit on the bench in front of the lockers.
 * Fusion core - In the generator at the northeast corner of the main building.

Appearances
Federal disposal field HZ-21 appears only in Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes
The prominent spikes seen at federal disposal field HZ-21 are based on the "Landscape of Thorns" concept by architect Michael Brill, one of several long-time nuclear waste warning messages proposed in a 1993 U.S. Department of Energy report for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).