Hanford Site
Encyclopedia
Nuclear technology
Nuclear technology is technology that involves the reactions of atomic nuclei. Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear power, nuclear medicine, and nuclear weapons...
production complex on the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Washington, operated by the United States federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
. The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works or HEW, Hanford Nuclear Reservation or HNR, and the Hanford Project. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
in the town of Hanford
Hanford, Washington
Hanford was a small agricultural community in Benton County, Washington, United States. It was evacuated in 1943 along with the town of White Bluffs in order to make room for the nuclear production facility known as the Hanford Site...
in south-central Washington, the site was home to the B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
production reactor in the world. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
, tested at the Trinity site, and in Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
, the bomb detonated
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
over Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
, Japan.
During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the project was expanded to include nine nuclear reactors and five large plutonium processing
Nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel. Reprocessing serves multiple purposes, whose relative importance has changed over time. Originally reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing...
complexes, which produced plutonium for most of the 60,000 weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal
Nuclear weapons and the United States
The United States was the first country to develop nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them in warfare, with the separate bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Before and during the Cold War it conducted over a thousand nuclear tests and developed many long-range...
. Nuclear technology
Nuclear technology
Nuclear technology is technology that involves the reactions of atomic nuclei. Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear power, nuclear medicine, and nuclear weapons...
developed rapidly during this period, and Hanford scientists produced many notable technological achievements. Many of the early safety procedures and waste disposal practices were inadequate, and government documents have since confirmed that Hanford's operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials
Radioactive contamination
Radioactive contamination, also called radiological contamination, is radioactive substances on surfaces, or within solids, liquids or gases , where their presence is unintended or undesirable, or the process giving rise to their presence in such places...
into the air and the Columbia River, which threatened the health of residents and ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s.
The weapons production reactors were decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, but the decades of manufacturing left behind 53 million USgals (200,626.8 m³) of high-level
High level waste
High level waste is a type of nuclear waste created by the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. It exists in two main forms:* First and second cycle raffinate and other waste streams created by nuclear reprocessing....
radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
(tank waste); an additional 25 million cufts (707,921.2 m³) of solid radioactive waste, most of it buried; 200 square miles (518 km²) of contaminated groundwater beneath the site, with the potential to leach into the Columbia; and occasional discoveries of undocumented contaminations that slow the pace and raise the cost of cleanup.
The Hanford site represents two-thirds of the nation's high-level radioactive waste by volume. Today, Hanford is the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States and is the focus of the nation's largest environmental cleanup. While most of the current activity at the site is related to the cleanup project, Hanford also hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station
Columbia Generating Station
The Columbia Generating Station, is a nuclear power station located on the United States Department of Energy Hanford Site, 12 miles NW of Richland, Washington. Its site covers 1,089 acres of Benton County, Washington....
, and various centers for scientific research and development, such as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington....
and the LIGO Hanford Observatory
LIGO
LIGO, which stands for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, is a large-scale physics experiment aiming to directly detect gravitational waves. Cofounded in 1992 by Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever of Caltech and Rainer Weiss of MIT, LIGO is a joint project between scientists at MIT,...
.
Geography
Benton County, Washington
Benton County is a county located in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of Washington. The Columbia River makes up the north, south, and east boundaries of the county. In 2010, its population was 175,177. The county seat is Prosser, and its largest city is Kennewick...
(centered on 46°38′51"N 119°35′55"W), roughly equivalent to a third of the total area of Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. This land is currently uninhabited and is closed to the general public. It is a desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
environment receiving under 10 inches of annual precipitation, covered mostly by shrub-steppe
Shrub-steppe
Shrub-steppe is a type of low rainfall natural grassland. Shrub-steppes are distinguishable from deserts, which are too dry to support a noticeable cover of perennial grasses or other shrubs, while the shrub-steppe has sufficient moisture levels to support a cover of perennial grasses and/or...
vegetation. The Columbia River flows along the site for approximately 50 miles (80.5 km), forming its northern and eastern boundary. The original site was 670 square miles (1,735.3 km²) and included buffer areas across the river in Grant and Franklin counties. Some of this land has been returned to private use and is now covered with orchards and irrigated fields. In 2000, large portions of the site were turned over to the Hanford Reach National Monument
Hanford Reach National Monument
The Hanford Reach National Monument is a national monument in the U.S. State of Washington. It was created in 2000, mostly from the former security buffer surrounding the Hanford Nuclear Reservation...
.
The site is divided by function into three main areas. The nuclear reactors were located along the river in an area designated as the 100 Area; the chemical separations complexes were located inland in the Central Plateau, designated as the 200 Area; and various support facilities were located in the southeast corner of the site, designated as the 300 Area
300 Area
The 300 Area is part of the Hanford Site in the state of Washington, USA. The area was used for the production of fuel for the reactors and performing research on improving the production process. Today, the buildings remain active as laboratories, workshops, and offices. Most work being done...
.
The site is bordered on the southeast by the Tri-Cities
Tri-Cities, Washington
The Tri-Cities is a mid-sized metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, consisting of three neighboring cities: Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. The cities are located at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia rivers in the semi-arid region of...
, a metropolitan area composed of Richland
Richland, Washington
Richland is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 48,058. April 1, 2011 estimates from the Washington State Office of Financial Management put the...
, Kennewick
Kennewick, Washington
Kennewick is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, near the Hanford nuclear site. It is the most populous of the three cities collectively referred to as the Tri-Cities...
, Pasco
Pasco, Washington
Pasco is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Washington, United States.Pasco is one of three cities that make up the Tri-Cities region of the state of Washington...
, and smaller communities, and home to over 230,000 residents. Hanford is a primary economic base for these cities.
Early history
The confluence of the YakimaYakima River
The Yakima River is a tributary of the Columbia River in south central and eastern Washington State, named for the indigenous Yakama people. The length of the river from headwaters to mouth is , with an average drop of .-Course:...
, Snake
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
, and Columbia rivers has been a meeting place for native peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
for centuries. The archaeological record of Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
habitation of this area stretches back over ten thousand years. Tribes and nations including the Yakama
Yakama
The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, or simply Yakama Nation , is a Native American group with nearly 10,000 enrolled members, living in Washington. Their reservation, along the Yakima River, covers an area of approximately 1.2 million acres...
, Nez Perce, and Umatilla
Umatilla (tribe)
The Umatilla are a Sahaptin-speaking Native American group living on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, who traditionally inhabited the Columbia Plateau region of the northwestern United States....
used the area for hunting, fishing, and gathering plant foods. Hanford archaeologists
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
have identified numerous Native American sites, including "pit house villages, open campsites, fishing sites, hunting/kill sites, game drive complexes, quarries, and spirit quest sites", and two archaeological sites were listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1976. Native American use of the area continued into the 20th century, even as the tribes were relocated to reservations
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
. The Wanapum
Wanapum
The Wanapum tribe of Native Americans formerly lived along the Columbia River from above Priest Rapids down to the mouth of the Snake River in what is now the U.S. state of Washington. About 60 Wanapum still live near the present day site of Priest Rapids Dam...
people were never forced onto a reservation, and they lived along the Columbia River in the Priest Rapids Valley
Priest Rapids
Priest Rapids was a narrow, fast-flowing stretch of the Columbia River, located in the central region of the U.S. state of Washington. It was flooded by the construction of the Priest Rapids Dam in the 1950s....
until 1943. Euro-Americans began to settle the region in the 1860s, initially along the Columbia River south of Priest Rapids. They established farms and orchards supported by small-scale irrigation projects and railroad transportation, with small town centers at Hanford
Hanford, Washington
Hanford was a small agricultural community in Benton County, Washington, United States. It was evacuated in 1943 along with the town of White Bluffs in order to make room for the nuclear production facility known as the Hanford Site...
, White Bluffs
White Bluffs, Washington
White Bluffs was an agricultural town in Benton County, Washington, United States. It was evacuated in 1943 along with the town of Hanford to make room for the nuclear production facility known as the Hanford Site....
, and Richland
Richland, Washington
Richland is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 48,058. April 1, 2011 estimates from the Washington State Office of Financial Management put the...
.
Manhattan Project
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Uranium Committee
S-1 Uranium Committee
The S-1 Uranium Committee was a Committee of the National Defense Research Committee that succeeded the Briggs Advisory Committee on Uranium and later evolved into the Manhattan Project.- World War II begins :...
of the federal Office of Scientific Research and Development
Office of Scientific Research and Development
The Office of Scientific Research and Development was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1941, and it was created formally by on June 28, 1941...
(OSRD) sponsored an intensive research project on plutonium. The research contract was awarded to scientists at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory (Met Lab). At the time, plutonium was a rare element that had only recently been isolated in a University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
laboratory. The Met Lab researchers worked on producing chain-reacting "piles" of uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
to convert it to plutonium and finding ways to separate plutonium from uranium. The program was accelerated in 1942, as the United States government became concerned that scientists in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
were developing a nuclear weapons program.
Site selection
Leslie Groves
Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
, charging him with the construction of industrial-size plants for manufacturing plutonium and uranium. Groves recruited the DuPont Company
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
to be the prime contractor for the construction of the plutonium production complex. DuPont recommended that it be located far away from the existing uranium production facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
. The ideal site was described by these criteria:
- A large and remote tract of land
- A "hazardous manufacturing area" of at least 12 by
- Space for laboratory facilities at least 8 miles (13 km) from the nearest reactor or separations plant
- No towns of more than 1,000 people closer than 20 miles (32 km) from the hazardous rectangle
- No main highway, railway, or employee village closer than 10 miles (16 km) from the hazardous rectangle
- A clean and abundant water supply
- A large electric power supply
- Ground that could bear heavy loads.
In December 1942, Groves dispatched his assistant Colonel Franklin T. Matthias
Franklin Matthias
Franklin T. Matthias was an American nuclear engineer who directed construction of the Hanford nuclear site, a key facility of the Manhattan Project during World War II. As a 34-year-old lieutenant colonel with the Army Corps of Engineers, he was appointed to the Hanford project by General Leslie...
and DuPont engineers to scout potential sites. Matthias reported that Hanford was "ideal in virtually all respects," except for the farming towns of White Bluffs
White Bluffs, Washington
White Bluffs was an agricultural town in Benton County, Washington, United States. It was evacuated in 1943 along with the town of Hanford to make room for the nuclear production facility known as the Hanford Site....
and Hanford
Hanford, Washington
Hanford was a small agricultural community in Benton County, Washington, United States. It was evacuated in 1943 along with the town of White Bluffs in order to make room for the nuclear production facility known as the Hanford Site...
. General Groves visited the site in January and established the Hanford Engineer Works, codenamed "Site W". The federal government quickly acquired the land under its eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
authority and relocated some 1,500 residents of Hanford, White Bluffs, and nearby settlements, as well as the Wanapum and other tribes using the area.
Construction begins
To receive the radioactive wastes from the chemical separations process, the HEW built "tank farms" consisting of 64 single-shell underground waste tanks (241-B, 241-C, 241-T, and 241-U). The project required 386 miles (621 km) of roads, 158 miles (254 km) of railway, and four electrical substations. The HEW used 780,000 cubic yards (600,000 m³) of concrete and 40,000 short tons (36,000 t
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
) of structural steel and consumed $230 million between 1943 and 1946.
Plutonium production
The B Reactor (105-B) at Hanford was the first large-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. It was designed and built by DuPont based on an experimental design by Enrico FermiEnrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
, and originally operated at 250 megawatts. The reactor was graphite
Graphite
The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω , "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead . Unlike diamond , graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal...
moderated and water cooled. It consisted of a 28 by, 1200 short tons (1,088.6 t) graphite cylinder lying on its side, penetrated through its entire length horizontally by 2,004 aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
tubes. (180 t) of uranium slugs the size of rolls of U.S. quarters
Quarter (United States coin)
A quarter dollar, commonly shortened to quarter, is a coin worth ¼ of a United States dollar, or 25 cents. The quarter has been produced since 1796. The choice of 25¢ as a denomination, as opposed to 20¢ which is more common in other parts of the world, originated with the practice of dividing...
and sealed in aluminium cans went into the tubes. A roll of quarters is about 1 inches (2.5 cm) by 2.9 inches (7.4 cm). Cooling water was pumped through the aluminium tubes around the uranium slugs at the rate of 30000 gallons (113,562.4 l) per minute.
Critical mass
A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The...
in late September and, after overcoming nuclear poison
Nuclear poison
A neutron poison is a substance with a large neutron absorption cross-section in applications, such as nuclear reactors. In such applications, absorbing neutrons is normally an undesirable effect...
ing, produced its first plutonium on November 6, 1944. Plutonium was produced in the Hanford reactors when a uranium-238
Uranium-238
Uranium-238 is the most common isotope of uranium found in nature. It is not fissile, but is a fertile material: it can capture a slow neutron and after two beta decays become fissile plutonium-239...
atom in a fuel slug absorbed a neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
to form uranium-239. U-239 rapidly undergoes beta decay
Beta decay
In nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
to form neptunium-239, which rapidly undergoes a second beta decay to form plutonium-239
Plutonium-239
Plutonium-239 is an isotope of plutonium. Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 has also been used and is currently the secondary isotope. Plutonium-239 is also one of the three main isotopes demonstrated usable as fuel in...
. The irradiated fuel slugs were transported by rail to three huge remotely operated chemical separation plants called "canyons" that were located about 10 miles (16 km) away. A series of chemical processing steps separated the small amount of plutonium that was produced from the remaining uranium and the fission waste products. This first batch of plutonium was refined in the 221-T plant from December 26, 1944, to February 2, 1945, and delivered to the Los Alamos laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
on February 5, 1945.
Two identical reactors, D Reactor and F reactor, came online in December 1944 and February 1945, respectively. By April 1945, shipments of plutonium were headed to Los Alamos every five days, and Hanford soon provided enough material for the bombs tested at Trinity and dropped over Nagasaki
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
. Throughout this period, the Manhattan Project maintained a top secret classification. Until news arrived of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
, fewer than one percent of Hanford's workers knew they were working on a nuclear weapons project. General Groves noted in his memoirs that "We made certain that each member of the project thoroughly understood his part in the total effort; that, and nothing more."
Technological innovations
In the short time frame of the Manhattan Project, Hanford engineers produced many significant technological advances. As no one had ever built an industrial-scale nuclear reactor before, scientists were unsure how much heat would be generated by fission during normal operations. Seeking the greatest possible production while maintaining an adequate safety margin, DuPontDuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
engineers installed ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
-based refrigeration
Refrigeration
Refrigeration is a process in which work is done to move heat from one location to another. This work is traditionally done by mechanical work, but can also be done by magnetism, laser or other means...
systems with the D and F reactors to further chill the river water before its use as reactor coolant.
Another difficulty the engineers struggled with was how to deal with radioactive contamination. Once the canyons began processing irradiated slugs, the machinery would become so radioactive that it would be unsafe for humans ever to come in contact with it. The engineers therefore had to devise methods to allow for the replacement of any component via remote control. They came up with a modular cell concept, which allowed major components to be removed and replaced by an operator sitting in a heavily shielded overhead crane. This method required early practical application of two technologies that later gained widespread use: Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene
Polytetrafluoroethylene is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that finds numerous applications. PTFE is most well known by the DuPont brand name Teflon....
, used as a gasket material, and closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
, used to give the crane operator a better view of the process.
Cold War expansion
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
assumed management of the Hanford Works under the supervision of the newly created Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
. As the Cold War began, the United States faced a new strategic threat in the rise of the Soviet nuclear weapons program
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb , was a clandestine research and development program began during and post-World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the United States' nuclear project...
. In August 1947, the Hanford Works announced funding for the construction of two new weapons reactors and research leading to the development of a new chemical separations process. With this announcement, Hanford entered a new phase of expansion.
By 1963, the Hanford Site was home to nine nuclear reactors along the Columbia River, five reprocessing plants on the central plateau, and more than 900 support buildings and radiological laboratories around the site. Extensive modifications and upgrades were made to the original three World War II reactors, and a total of 177 underground waste tanks were built. Hanford was at its peak production from 1956 to 1965. Over the entire 40 years of operations, the site produced about 63 short tons (57 MT) of plutonium, supplying the majority of the 60,000 weapons in the U.S. arsenal.
Decommissioning
Most of the reactors were shut down between 1964 and 1971, with an average individual life span of 22 years. The last reactor, N Reactor, continued to operate as a dual-purpose reactor, being both a power reactor used to feed the civilian electrical grid via the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) and a plutonium production reactor for nuclear weapons. N Reactor operated until 1987. Since then, most of the Hanford reactors have been entombed ("cocooned") to allow the radioactive materials to decay, and the surrounding structures have been removed and buried. The B-Reactor has not been cocooned and is accessible to the public on occasional guided tours. It was listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1992, and some historians advocate converting it into a museum. B reactor was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
on August 19, 2008.
| Reactor name | Start-up date | Shutdown date | Initial power (MWt) |
Final power (MWt) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Reactor | Sep 1944 | Feb 1968 | 250 | 2210 |
| D Reactor | Dec 1944 | Jun 1967 | 250 | 2165 |
| F Reactor | Feb 1945 | Jun 1965 | 250 | 2040 |
| H Reactor | Oct 1949 | Apr 1965 | 400 | 2140 |
| DR ("D Replacement") Reactor | Oct 1950 | Dec 1964 | 250 | 2015 |
| C Reactor | Nov 1952 | Apr 1969 | 650 | 2500 |
| KW ("K West") Reactor | Jan 1955 | Feb 1970 | 1800 | 4400 |
| KE ("K East") Reactor | Apr 1955 | Jan 1971 | 1800 | 4400 |
| N Reactor | Dec 1963 | Jan 1987 | 4000 | 4000 |
Later operations
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
assumed control of the Hanford Site in 1977. Although uranium enrichment and plutonium breeding were slowly phased out, the nuclear legacy left an indelible mark on the Tri-Cities. Since World War II, the area had developed from a small farming community to a booming "Atomic Frontier" to a powerhouse of the nuclear-industrial complex. Decades of federal investment created a community of highly skilled scientists and engineers. As a result of this concentration of specialized skills, the Hanford Site was able to diversify its operations to include scientific research, test facilities, and commercial nuclear power production.
Some of the facilities currently located at the Hanford Site:
- The Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryPacific Northwest National LaboratoryPacific Northwest National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington....
, owned by the Department of Energy and operated by Battelle Memorial InstituteBattelle Memorial InstituteBattelle Memorial Institute is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Ohio and is exempt from taxation under Section 501 of the... - The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF)Fast Flux Test FacilityThe Fast Flux Test Facility is a 400 MW nuclear test reactor owned by the U.S. Department of Energy.It is situated in the 400 Area of the Hanford Site, which is located in the state of Washington.-History:...
, a national research facility in operation from 1980 to 1992 (in cold standby ) - LIGO's Hanford ObservatoryLIGOLIGO, which stands for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, is a large-scale physics experiment aiming to directly detect gravitational waves. Cofounded in 1992 by Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever of Caltech and Rainer Weiss of MIT, LIGO is a joint project between scientists at MIT,...
, an interferometer searching for gravitational waves - Columbia Generating StationColumbia Generating StationThe Columbia Generating Station, is a nuclear power station located on the United States Department of Energy Hanford Site, 12 miles NW of Richland, Washington. Its site covers 1,089 acres of Benton County, Washington....
, a commercial nuclear powerNuclear powerNuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plant operated by Energy NorthwestEnergy NorthwestEnergy Northwest is a United States public power joint operating agency formed by State law in 1957 to produce at-cost power for Northwest utilities. Headquartered in Richland, Washington, the WPPSS became commonly knowns as "Whoops"before being renamed Energy Northwest in November 1998...
.
The Department of Energy and its contractors offer tours of the site. Sixty public tours, each five hours long, were planned for 2009. The tours are free, require advance reservation via the department's web site, and are limited to U.S. citizens at least 18 years of age.
Environmental concerns
Isotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
s were not affected by this retention, and several terabecquerels
Becquerel
The becquerel is the SI-derived unit of radioactivity. One Bq is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. The Bq unit is therefore equivalent to an inverse second, s−1...
entered the river every day. These releases were kept secret by the federal government. Radiation was later measured downstream as far west as the Washington and Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
coasts.
The plutonium separation process also resulted in the release of radioactive isotopes into the air, which were carried by the wind throughout southeastern Washington and into parts of Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Oregon, and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. Downwinders
Downwinders
Downwinders refers to individuals and communities who are exposed to radioactive contamination or nuclear fallout from atmospheric or underground nuclear weapons testing, and nuclear accidents...
were exposed to radionuclides, particularly iodine-131
Iodine-131
Iodine-131 , also called radioiodine , is an important radioisotope of iodine. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. Its uses are mostly medical and pharmaceutical...
, with the heaviest releases during the period from 1945 to 1951. These radionuclides filtered into the food chain via contaminated fields where dairy cows grazed; hazardous fallout was ingested by communities who consumed the radioactive food and drank the milk. Most of these airborne releases were a part of Hanford's routine operations, while a few of the larger releases occurred in isolated incidents. In 1949, an intentional release known as the "Green Run
Green Run
The "Green Run" was a secret U.S. Government release of radioactive fission products on December 2–3, 1949, at the Hanford Site plutonium production facility. Radioisotopes released at that time were supposed to be detected by U.S. Air Force reconnaissance. Freedom of Information Act requests to...
" released 8,000 curies of iodine-131 over two days. Another source of contaminated food came from Columbia River fish, an impact felt disproportionately by Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
communities who depended on the river for their customary diets. A U.S. government report released in 1992 estimated that 685,000 curies of radioactive iodine-131 had been released into the river and air from the Hanford site between 1944 and 1947.
United States Public Health Service
The Public Health Service Act of 1944 structured the United States Public Health Service as the primary division of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare , which later became the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The PHS comprises all Agency Divisions of Health and...
published reports about radioactivity released from Hanford, and there were protests from the health departments of Oregon and Washington. By February 1986, mounting citizen pressure forced the Department of Energy to release to the public 19,000 pages of previously unavailable historical documents about Hanford’s operations. The Washington State Department of Health collaborated with the citizen-led Hanford Health Information Network (HHIN) to publicize data about the health effects of Hanford’s operations. HHIN reports concluded that residents who lived downwind from Hanford or who used the Columbia River downstream were exposed to elevated doses of radiation that placed them at increased risk for various cancers and other diseases. A mass tort lawsuit brought by two thousand Hanford downwinders against the federal government has been in the court system for many years. The first six plaintiffs went to trial in 2005, in a bellwether
Bellwether
A bellwether is any entity in a given arena that serves to create or influence trends or to presage future happenings.The term is derived from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram leading his flock of sheep.The movements of...
trial to test the legal issues applying to the remaining plaintiffs in the suit.
Cleanup era
National Priorities List
The National Priorities List is the list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial action financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protection Agency regulations outline a formal process for assessing hazardous waste sites and placing them on...
. On May 15, 1989, the Washington Department of Ecology
Washington Department of Ecology
The Washington Department of Ecology, or simply, Ecology, is an environmental regulatory agency for the State of Washington. The department administers laws and regulations pertaining to the areas of water quality, water rights and water resources, shoreline management, toxics clean-up, nuclear...
, the federal Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
, and the Department of Energy entered into the Tri-Party Agreement, which provides a legal framework for environmental remediation at Hanford. The agencies are currently engaged in the world's largest environmental cleanup, with many challenges to be resolved in the face of overlapping technical, political, regulatory, and cultural interests. The cleanup effort is focused on three outcomes: restoring the Columbia River corridor for other uses, converting the central plateau to long-term waste treatment and storage, and preparing for the future. The cleanup effort is managed by the Department of Energy under the oversight of the two regulatory agencies. A citizen-led Hanford Advisory Board provides recommendations from community stakeholders, including local and state governments, regional environmental organizations, business interests, and Native American tribes. In recent years, the federal government has spent about $2 billion annually on the Hanford project. About 11,000 workers are on site to consolidate, clean up, and mitigate waste, contaminated buildings, and contaminated soil. Originally scheduled to be complete within thirty years, the cleanup was less than half finished by 2008. Of the four areas that were formally listed as Superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
sites on October 4, 1989, only one has been removed from the list following cleanup.
The most significant challenge at Hanford is stabilizing the 53 million U.S. gallons (204,000 m3) of high-level radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks. About a third of these tanks have leaked waste into the soil and groundwater. , most of the liquid waste has been transferred to more secure double-shelled tanks; however, 2.8 million U.S. gallons (10,600 m3) of liquid waste, together with 27 million U.S. gallons (100,000 m3) of salt cake and sludge, remains in the single-shelled tanks. That waste was originally scheduled to be removed by 2018. The revised deadline is 2040. Nearby aquifers contain an estimated 270 billion U.S. gallons (1 billion m3) of contaminated groundwater as a result of the leaks. , 1 million U.S. gallons (4,000 m3) of highly radioactive waste is traveling through the groundwater toward the Columbia River. This waste is expected to reach the river in 12 to 50 years if cleanup does not proceed on schedule. The site also includes 25 million cufts (707,921.2 m³) of solid radioactive waste.
Half-life
Half-life, abbreviated t½, is the period of time it takes for the amount of a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but it may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.The original term, dating to...
of 24,100 years, and a decay of ten half-lives is required before a sample is considered to be safe. The Department of Energy is currently building a vitrification plant on the Hanford Site. Vitrification is a method designed to combine these dangerous wastes with glass to render them stable. Bechtel
Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...
, the San Francisco based construction and engineering firm, has been hired to construct the vitrification plant, which is currently estimated to cost approximately $12 billion. Construction began in 2001. After some delays, the plant is now scheduled to be operational in 2019, with vitrification completed in 2047. It was originally scheduled to be operational by 2011, with vitrification completed by 2028.
In May 2007, state and federal officials began closed-door negotiations about the possibility of extending legal cleanup deadlines for waste vitrification in exchange for shifting the focus of the cleanup to urgent priorities, such as groundwater remediation
Groundwater remediation
Groundwater remediation is the process that is used to remove pollution from groundwater. Groundwater is water present below the ground surface that saturates the pore space in the subsurface. At least one half of the population of the United States depends upon groundwater as a source of...
. Those talks stalled in October. In early 2008, a $600 million cut to the Hanford cleanup budget was proposed. Washington state officials expressed concern about the budget cuts, as well as missed deadlines and recent safety lapses at the site, and threatened to file a lawsuit alleging that the Department of Energy is in violation of environmental laws. They appeared to step back from that threat in April after another meeting of federal and state officials resulted in progress toward a tentative agreement.
A sample of purified plutonium was uncovered inside a safe in a waste trench at the site during excavations from 2004 to 2007, and has been dated to approximately the 1940s, making it the second-oldest sample of purified plutonium known to exist. Analyses published in 2009 concluded that the sample originated at Oak Ridge, and was one of several sent to Hanford for optimisation tests of the T-Plant until Hanford could produce its own plutonium. Documents refer to such a sample, belonging to "Watt's group", which was disposed of in its safe when a radiation leak was suspected.
Hanford organizations
The Hanford site operations were initially directed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, followed by the Atomic Energy CommissionUnited States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
and then the Energy Research and Development Administration
Energy Research and Development Administration
The United States Energy Research and Development Administration was a United States government organization formed from the split of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1975...
. Hanford operations are currently directed by the U.S. Department of Energy. It has been operated under government contract by a number of private companies over the years - the table which follows summarizes the operating contractors through 2000.
| Year Begun | Month | Organization | Responsibility | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | December 12 | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Lead U.S. Government entity | Held role until January 1, 1947 |
| 1942 | December 12 | E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company (DuPont) | All site activities | Initial Hanford site contractor |
| 1946 | September 1 | General Electric Company (GE) | All site activities | Replaced DuPont |
| 1947 | January 1 | Atomic Energy Commission United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S... |
Lead U.S. Government entity | Replaced U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| 1953 | May 15 | Vitro Engineers | Hanford Engineering Services | Assumed GEs new facility design role |
| 1953 | June 1 | J.A. Jones Construction | Hanford Construction Services | Assumed GEs construction role |
| 1965 | January 1 | U.S. Testing | Environmental & bioassay testing | Assumed GEs environmental and bioassay testing role |
| 1965 | January 4 | Battelle Memorial Institute Battelle Memorial Institute Battelle Memorial Institute is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Ohio and is exempt from taxation under Section 501 of the... |
Pacific Northwest Laboratory Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington.... (PNL) |
Assumed GE’s laboratory operations - subsequently renamed Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| 1965 | July 1 | Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) | Computer services | New scope |
| 1965 | August 1 | Hanford Occupational Health Foundation | Industrial Medicine | Assumed GE’s industrial medicine role |
| 1965 | September 10 | Douglas United Nuclear | Single pass reactor operations & fuel fabrication | Assumed part of GE’s reactor operations |
| 1966 | January 1 | Isochem | Chemical processing | Assumed GE’s chemical processing operations |
| 1966 | March 1 | ITT Federal Support Services, Inc. | Support services | Assumed |
| 1967 | July 1 | Douglas United Nuclear | N Reactor operation | Assumed remainder of GE’s reactor operations |
| 1967 | September 4 | Atlantic Richfield Hanford Company | Chemical Processing | Replaced Isochem |
| 1967 | August 8 | Hanford Environmental Health Foundation | Industrial Medicine | Name change only |
| 1970 | February 1 | Westinghouse Hanford Company Westinghouse Electric (1886) Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997... |
Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory | Spun off from PNL with mission to build the Fast Flux Test Facility Fast Flux Test Facility The Fast Flux Test Facility is a 400 MW nuclear test reactor owned by the U.S. Department of Energy.It is situated in the 400 Area of the Hanford Site, which is located in the state of Washington.-History:... |
| 1971 | September | ARHCO | Support Services | Replaces ITT/PSS |
| 1973 | April | United Nuclear Industries, Inc. | All production reactor operations | Name change from Douglas United Nuclear only |
| 1975 | January 1 | Energy Research and Development Administration Energy Research and Development Administration The United States Energy Research and Development Administration was a United States government organization formed from the split of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1975... (ERDA) |
Lead U.S. Government entity | Replaced AEC - managed site until October 1, 1977 |
| 1975 | October 1 | Boeing Computer Services (BCS) | Computer services | Replaced CSC |
| 1977 | October 1 | U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) | Lead U.S. Government Agency | Replaced ERDA - manages site presently |
| 1977 | October 1 | Rockwell Hanford Operations (RHO) | Chemical Processing & Support Services | Replaces ARCHO |
| 1981 | June | Braun Hanford Company (BHC) | Architect & Engineering Services | Replaces Vitro |
| 1982 | March | Kaiser Engineering Hanford (KEH) | Architect & Engineering Services | Replaces BHC |
| 1987 | March 1 | KEH | Construction | Consolidated contract includes former J.A. Jones work |
| 1987 | June 29 | WHC Westinghouse Electric (1886) Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997... |
Site management & operations | Consolidated contract includes former RHO, UNC & KEH work. |
| 1996 | October 1 | Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc. (FDH) | Site management & operations | FDH is integrating contractor with 13 subcontracted companies |
| 2000 | February 7 | Fluor Hanford | Site cleanup operations | Transition to site cleanup (13 Fluor subcontractors held various roles) |
| 2009 | October 1 | Washington River Protection Solutions | Tank Farm cleanup operations | Transition to multi contractor roles (Mission Support Alliance MSA) |
Other divisions of the site (historical)
- Plutonium Finishing PlantPlutonium Finishing PlantThe Plutonium Finishing Plant , also known as 'Z Plant', was part of the Hanford Site nuclear research complex in the state of Washington, USA.-History:...
(PFP) - made plutonium metal for use in weapons - B Plant, S Plant, T Plant - processing, separation, and extraction of various chemicals and isotopes
- Health Instruments Section - an attempt to keep workers and the environment safe
- REDOX Plant / C Plant - recovered wasted uranium from World War II processes
- Experimental Animal Farm and Aquatic Biology Laboratory
- Technical Center - radiochemistry, physics, metallurgy, biophysics, radioactive sewer, neutralization, metal fab, fuels manufacturing
- Tank Farms - storage of liquid nuclear waste
- Metal Recovery Plant / U Plant - recover uranium from tank farms
- Uranium Trioxide Plant (aka Uranium Oxide Plant aka UO3 Plant) - took output from other plants (i.e. liquid uranyl nitrate hexahydrate from U plant and PUREX plant), made uranium trioxideUranium trioxideUranium trioxide , also called uranyl oxide, uranium oxide, and uranic oxide, is the hexavalent oxide of uranium. The solid may be obtained by heating uranyl nitrate to 400 °C. Its most commonly encountered polymorph, γ-UO3, is a yellow-orange powder.-Production and use:There are three methods...
powder - Plutonium-Uranium Extraction Plant / PUREXPUREXPUREX is an acronym standing for Plutonium - URanium EXtraction — de facto standard aqueous nuclear reprocessing method for the recovery of uranium and plutonium from used nuclear fuel. It is based on liquid-liquid extraction ion-exchange.The PUREX process was invented by Herbert H. Anderson and...
Plant - extracted useful material from spent fuel waste (also see the PUREXPUREXPUREX is an acronym standing for Plutonium - URanium EXtraction — de facto standard aqueous nuclear reprocessing method for the recovery of uranium and plutonium from used nuclear fuel. It is based on liquid-liquid extraction ion-exchange.The PUREX process was invented by Herbert H. Anderson and...
article) - Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor (PRTR) - experimented with alternative fuel mixtures
- Plutonium Fuels Pilot Plant (PFPP) - see PRTR
See also
- Idaho National LaboratoryIdaho National LaboratoryIdaho National Laboratory is an complex located in the high desert of eastern Idaho, between the town of Arco to the west and the cities of Idaho Falls and Blackfoot to the east. It lies within Butte, Bingham, Bonneville and Jefferson counties...
- Paducah Gaseous Diffusion PlantPaducah Gaseous Diffusion PlantThe Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is a facility located in McCracken County, Kentucky, near Paducah, Kentucky, that produces enriched uranium, for nuclear power plants. The plant is now operated by United States Enrichment Corporation, a subsidiary of USEC Incorporated, a publicly traded...
- Savannah River SiteSavannah River SiteThe Savannah River Site is a nuclear reservation in the United States in the state of South Carolina, located on land in Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell Counties adjacent to the Savannah River, southeast of Augusta, Georgia. The site was built during the 1950s to refine nuclear materials for...
- Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
- Rocky Flats PlantRocky Flats PlantThe Rocky Flats Plant was a United States nuclear weapons production facility near Denver, Colorado that operated from 1952 to 1992. It was under the control of the United States Atomic Energy Commission until 1977, when it was replaced by the Department of Energy .-1950s:Following World War II,...
- PantexPantexThe Pantex plant is America's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility and is charged with maintaining the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. The facility is located on a 16,000 acre site 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, in Carson County,...
- Fernald Feed Materials Production CenterFernald Feed Materials Production CenterThe Fernald Feed Materials Production Center is a Superfund site located within Crosby Township in Hamilton County, Ohio, as well as Ross Township in Butler County, Ohio...
- Sandia National LaboratoriesSandia National LaboratoriesThe Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
- Oak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
- Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
- James AcordJames AcordJames Leroy Acord was an artist who worked directly with radioactive materials. He attempted to create sculpture and events that probed the history of nuclear engineering and asked questions about the long-term storage of nuclear waste...
Further reading
- John M. Findlay and Bruce Hevly. Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West (University of Washington Press; 2011) 368 pages; explores the history of the Hanford nuclear reservation and the tri-cities of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick, Washington
External links
- Official Hanford website Department of Energy.
- Washington Department of Ecology - Nuclear Waste Program State agency that regulates Hanford cleanup.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Federal agency that regulates Hanford cleanup.
- Hanford Challenge Hanford watchdog group, based in Seattle.
- Hanford News Current news from the Tri-City Herald.
- Hanford Site Environmental Report Detailed annual report on radioactive concentrations measured at the Hanford Site.
- Atomic Heritage Foundation Historic Preservation of Manhattan Project Sites at Hanford.
- B Reactor Museum Association A collection of Hanford-related documents from a group fighting to preserve the B-100 Reactor at Hanford.
- Contaminated US site faces 'catastrophic' nuclear leak 2008 New ScientistNew ScientistNew Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
report. - Heart of America Northwest Hanford watchdog group, based in Seattle.
- The Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues Annotated bibliography for the Hanford Site.
- A Review of Data Triples Plutonium Waste Figures Matthew L. Wald, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, July 10, 2010 - Washington River Protection Solutions Hanford environmental remediation contractor.