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John Oliver highlights Hanford and America's alarming lack of a 'nuclear toilet'

He played clips of reports from KING 5 News investigator Susannah Frame, who has been covering the problems at Hanford and workers who have gotten sick.

"Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Where is America's "nuclear toilet?" That was the question on John Oliver's mind during Sunday's Last Week Tonight.

The host informed viewers that nuclear waste, which he jokingly referred to as "the worst type of garbage for raccoons to get into," might be lurking near them.

"One out of three Americans live within 50 miles of high-level nuclear waste," Oliver advised, "some of which, like plutonium is lethally dangerous and will be around for an incredibly long time."

Oliver said without a repository for the high-level waste, it's being left at facilities not designed to store it in perpetuity.

"To continue the toilet metaphor, we've basically been (expletive) in bags, leaving them all over the house and praying that they don't leak," he said.

But leaks from waste have happened, resulting in radioactive alligators and other unsettling events.

One of the places Oliver highlighted was Washington state's Hanford Nuclear Reservation. He played clips of reports from KING 5 News investigator Susannah Frame, who has been covering the problems at Hanford and workers who have gotten sick.

You can watch Oliver's NSFW segment in the player below.

KING 5's Travis Pittman contributed to this report

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