Manhattan Project National Historic Park: Hanford, Washington Unit

The last full day that Emily visited us, we decided to pay a visit to the Manhattan Project National Historic Park, Hanford Unit.  This National Park site is unique because it is composed of three different sites all related to the creation of the atomic bombs during World War 2.  There is a section in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and this third site at Hanford, Washington.

In Richland the park has a visitor center that you start at.  We had signed up for a 9am tour of the "B Reactor".  We started out watching an orientation film about the history of Hanford, and got some basic information from our tour guide before we were loaded up onto a bus and driven 40 miles out onto the restricted site.  The Department of Energy still manages the entire Hanford Reach area, but clean up and tourist development has allowed some areas to be opened up.

The original facilities (including B Reactor) at Hanford were built in 1943 for the purpose of large scale, massive plutonium production.  This lonely stretch of Eastern Washington was chosen for its isolation, plentiful supply of electricity from nearby hydroelectric dams, a large supply of water from the Columbia River that would be needed to cool the reactors, and other reasons.  A massive construction project was organized to develop the site and a lot of those stories can be told on another tour the NPS does of the historic buildings that remain from the actual town of Hanford.

Despite the lack of population, there were still people who were displaced from their land by the federal government.  Most of them were given very short notice and were not fairly compensated for their land and lives being uprooted.  Once we began getting close to the "B Reactor" location, you could see one of the original homestead buildings that still remains.  In all, white settlers from the towns of Hanford, White Bluffs, and American Indians were all displaced from their homes as it was deemed "necessary" for the war effort.

Upon arriving at the front of the B Reactor you step off the bus and you immediately see how massive the facility is.

We were directed into the biggest room in the reactor facility where staff sit everyone down in chairs and give presentations, attempted to explain the chemistry behind plutonium production.  As they talk to you, you are right in front of the loading tubes (2,004 of them, to be exact).  Uranium 235 fuel was loaded into each one of the tubes at at different stages to begin the reaction process.

High pressure water was directed into each tube in order to provide cooling.  It took about 1 second for the water to travel the entire length of tube.

Without getting too complicated, Uranium 235 was loaded into each tube and graphite jackets surrounding the tubes make the Uranium undergo several chemical changes that produce massive amounts of heat.  Boron control rods were placed horizontally and vertically.  Operators could manipulate these rods to slow or even stop the reaction process.  Eventually the Uranium fuel transforms into Plutonium in limited quantities.  It was this plutonium that the scientists were after in order to fuel the atomic bombs.

Once a Uranium fuel slug was spent it was pushed out the back of the reactor into various chemical and water baths.  Eventually workers would use long tongs to withdraw the slugs and they were transported on a train to a processing plant where the Plutonium was extracted from the fuel.  This facility in Hanford is where the plutonium contained in the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, was produced.  It was so neat thinking that we were standing in a facility that contributed to the end of World War 2.

During the course of our time at the B Reactor we got time to wander some of the other areas like the control room, fan & ducting rooms, and where the water intake into the facility is.

We also learned that we didn't have enough time.  If you try and listen to all the presentations, visit all the areas open to the public, and fully soak in all the information, you won't be able to do it.  I figure it will take at least another 1 or 2 visits to complete the experience just to the B Reactor, not even counting the other Hanford Townsite Tour.  The tour guides throw A LOT of information at you.  Before we knew it we were being herded back onto the bus for the ride back to Richland.

Thankfully the tour is free, but you need advance reservations because the tours usually fill up.  They are generally offered April through November, and the tour dates and times are posted on the park website.  There will definitely need to be another return to the site in my future...