Lasting Legacy: Hanford's B-Reactor

welcome to a hand for Communities issue briefing on be reacted the world's first full-scale nuclear reactor the Hanford Communities organization comprises the city surrounding the Hanford Site forming one voice to advise and support the US Department of Energy on important transition and cleanup issues the US Department of Energy manages of 586 square mile site in Southeast Washington State conducting nuclear waste cleanup and historic preservation activities this briefing focuses on Hanford's historic B reactor to explore the history of the Hanford Site and the B reactor we have to go back to 1943 war was raging in Europe and the Pacific and there were strong indications that Nazi Germany was working to create an atomic bomb the United States government proceeded with a great sense of urgency to find a remote location where an emerging new technology could be used to produce materials for America's defense scientists in Chicago had just succeeded in creating the first experimental self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction to produce a tiny amount of a new potent element called plutonium scientists discovered that plutonium could be produced when the uranium in the reactor fuel absorbs neutrons as the reactor operates during the nuclear reaction plutonium and highly radioactive fission products are created the amount of plutonium produced depends on the reactor power level and how long the reactor operates plutonium is recovered by chemically separating it from the remaining uranium and the fission products with the future of America at stake the Manhattan Project was created it was named for the Manhattan district office of the Army Corps of Engineers who would direct the project the first two sites selected for the project were Tennessee where a test reactor and facilities for enriching uranium would be located and New Mexico where a laboratory would be constructed a third location that was far removed from population centers was also required for plutonium production southeastern Washington State appeared to be ideal it had access to abundant clean water from the Columbia River the river also powered the massive Grand Coulee Dam upstream that would provide ample electricity in addition the remote location would help maintain the secrecy necessary for success the fact that the area was over 200 miles from a coast and that it had a climate that allowed nearly year-round construction were additional factors on the plus side in the late winter and early spring of 1943 of Americans and settlers were moved from the small towns of Richland Hanford and white Bluffs the original 670 square mile site was called the Hanford engineer works now known as the Hanford Site the DuPont company agreed to serve as contractor the massive construction project required hundreds of miles of fences rail lines and roads power transmission substations and distribution systems water and sewage systems and a construction camp for 51 thousand workers hired from all over the country where orchards and dust scablands had been a community of over 50,000 people had sprung to life there were churches in the Hanford residential areas as well as schools bars barbershops and beauty salons Native Americans still pulled salmon from the river in season at a camp dating back to the days of Lewis and Clark army colonel franklin matthias supplied trucks to the tribe to haul its salmon out since the camp was within the secure area the world's first full-scale nuclear facility was Hanford's b reactor constructed in just 11 months between october 1943 and september 1944 the reactor was built to exacting specifications and was incredibly sophisticated for its time be reactor really was an engineering marvel when you consider the fact that the first test reactor in the world in Chicago started up at a power level of 1/2 of a watt now think of that a light bulb is 60 watts and this was one half of a watt and B reactor the reactor that grew out of that experiment in Chicago started up at a power level of 250 million watts that's a scale-up of half a billion times and so that really is a scientific marvel B reactor is a first of a kind facility unique in many ways including its construction methods many new techniques were invented and pioneered during the building of B reactor the building was 100 when he feet wide by 150 feet long and a hundred and twenty feet tall about ten stories high the reactor was a three-story assembly of graphite blocks drilled through with a cylindrical lattice of channels uranium fuel elements clad in aluminum were inserted into these channels B reactor had horizontal control rods that entered from the side of the reactor and were used to control and maintain reactor power it also had safety rods that entered the reactor from the top that were designed to shut down the reactor in the event of an emergency the graphite reactor block had both thermal and concrete shields it was enclosed in a welded steel box that can find a gas atmosphere helium was selected for its heat removal capacity and because it would not react with a graphite not part about the urgency at the times that construction almost got ahead of that the drawings each piece of graphite had a particular number on a drawing and had to be put in a certain location and here we talk about what 2,000 tons graphite my longest piece only being four feet long and machine to three thousands of an inch although B reactor was the focal point progress on the Hanford facilities was crucial uranium fuel fabrication facilities and research and development laboratories were built in the 300 area about 30 miles from the reactor in the 200 areas located on the central plateau of the site chemical separation facilities including tea plant were constructed to extract plutonium from the irradiated uranium fuel a unique aspect of the B reactor was that it was water-cooled unlike the test reactors built in Chicago and Tennessee B reactor operations led to unique experiments and discoveries in nuclear fuel development first-of-a-kind manufacturing and coding processes had to be developed at Hanford for the site's water-cooled reactors cooling water was taken from the Columbia River chemically treated and pumped through the process channels in the reactor to cool the nuclear fuel in the reactor core the heated and radiologically contaminated water was pumped from the reactor core into retention basins and after a few hours it was discharged back into the Columbia River the contamination that resulted from the once-through cooling systems of Hanford's early reactors is part of the environmental waste legacy of 25 years of operation as soon as construction of B reactor was completed uranium fuel was loaded into the reactor core on September 26 1944 reactor operation was briefly achieved and then lost for three days a team of scientists led by Enrico Fermi studied the phenomenon after eliminating other possible causes they determined that xenon 133 an isotope formed in the fission process was absorbing neutrons at a high rate and shutting down the nuclear chain reaction the team recognized that more uranium would be needed to override the xenon effect and prevent the spontaneous shutdowns fortunately DuPont built additional fuel channels in the reactor as a contingency so it was possible to add uranium fuel rods to the core I was impressed with DuPont organization how they kept talking about contingency what if what if we lost the electric power or how are we going to get the rods in what if we have in this quality earthquake this is 1943 huh they said we better have something to take care of it and they did that contingency proved critical to the successful operation of B reactor the new channels were quickly lined piped and loaded with fuel and on November 24th 1944 B reactors first irradiated fuel elements were pushed out the back of the reactor into the cooling pool on December 26 1944 B reactors first irradiated fuel elements were taken to tea plant where a chemical separation process was performed to separate out the plutonium B reactor produced plutonium for the first full-scale atomic bomb test at the Trinity site in New Mexico on July 16 1945 and for the atomic bomb exploded over Nagasaki Japan on August 9th 1945 you Japan surrendered five days later and World War Two was over we are gathered here representatives of the major warring powers to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored I now invite the representatives of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters assigned the instrument of surrender at the places indicated America's nuclear introduction had gone from theory to culmination in little more than two years the achievement would change the course of history and ultimately bring new developments to defense power industry and medicine following World War two the United States and Soviet nuclear arms competition began and the race dramatically increased over the next two decades to meet the nation's demand for nuclear weapons material B reactor went on after the war to produce plutonium eight additional production reactors at Hanford also supplied the US nuclear arsenal the Cold War changed virtually every aspect of American life in the 20th century if we understand B reactor and Hanford we will come closer to understanding an important aspect of our nation's history On February 13 1968 with more than two decades of active service B reactor and its support facilities were closed together the Hanford reactors produce nearly two-thirds of the United States total plutonium between 1944 and 1989 the Savannah River Site in South Carolina produced the rest Hanford also produced other materials key to the nation's weapons program including polonium and tritium during 50 years of nuclear materials production a significant amount of radioactive and hazardous waste was generated from Hanford's 9 production reactors located along the Columbia River in addition liquid waste that was expelled to retention basins and leaked from piping has contaminated soil and groundwater around the reactors today at the Hanford Site the major project focus is on environmental cleanup to protect the workers the public the environment and to leave the site in a safe condition that preserves options for future uses however recognizing that B reactor is unique the first of its kind in the world citizens the National Park Service and the Department of Energy partnered to win special status for the although B reactor had already won numerous awards and honors the culmination came in August 2008 when the reactor was declared a national historic landmark the highest and most significant designation for historic properties in the United States just three percent of sites that are on the Historic Registry actually make it to landmark status its construction was a phenomenal achievement an achievement emblematic of the can-do spirit of what some have called the greatest generation these workers worked so hard they had such faith and patience and perseverance and ingenuity and skill and care and bravery most of all bravery their heroes every single one of them what they built was a miracle what you see before you facing history facing B reactor significant places of all types with positive and negative aspects have lessons to teach history the great guideposts and teacher fascinates us all whether it's the White House Mount Rushmore Fort Sumner or the Liberty Bell we come to learn more about who we are as a people like other great monuments that mark a sea change in our history the B reactor can speak to us about those who dreamed it and built it those who operated its complex parts without computers and those who were displaced and about the Great River into which the B reactor once discharged its wastes richard.rose Pulitzer prize-winning author of the making of the atomic bomb is regarded as one of the nation's authorities on the history of the Manhattan Project in a speech given at Hanford on the B reactors 60th anniversary he said when science demonstrated that matter properly arranged is all energy it revealed a natural limit to national sovereignty that made unlimited war suicidal we have been forced by a new knowledge of the natural world to find less destructive processes to settle disputes B reactor embodies the social reality of that millennial transformation we should save it while we still can request a tour B reactor come from all over the world once offered registrations for the tours are consistently filled within the first hour after they are placed on the Internet as a result of public demand the Department of Energy announced a new public access policy when B reactor was designated a national historic landmark there is enormous support for preserving the B reactors historic legacy and expanding access to it we at the department are very committed to preserving the significance of the reactor and to making it more accessible we want to ensure that as many Americans as possible have the opportunity to learn about this important piece of our history beginning next March tours will be available on a much more frequent schedule we must not destroy B reactor it is a voice it is not just a symbol of a voice it is a voice as it stands there because if you tear down American history you will forget it you will stop talking about it when it's gone you'll go on to other things and we can't let that happen we must look at this machine and stand in front of its huge face and debate and think and feel and decide what does this mean to us what have we learned

Channel: Hanford Communities

Views: 27,506

Keywords: atomic, b-reactor, brma, WWII, history, hanford, hanford communities, reactor, Nuclear, Power

Id: 6pqE1b3pfOY

Length: 19min 12sec (1152 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 24 2013