Our nation possessed the ingredients for the most powerful weapons ever concieved, and the secret was out. After World War Two our nation's policy was peace through strength and Hanford's work to bolster our nation's
defenses was booming. Hanford's Plutonium Finishing Plant
complex was a key component of that mission because for more than forty years it
created plutonium sent to other governments sites to
manufacture nuclear weapons. The Plutonium Finishing Plant was the last key step at Hanford during our weapons production years. Today it its our most complex hazardous facility as we clean up the Hanford Central Plateau. Today the plant is the most hazardous
facility on the Hanford Site and it poses a monumental cleanup challenge
to the Department of Energy. The Department and Contractor CH2MHill Plateau Remediation Company are planning to clean out and tear down all of the complex's
structures by the end of 2015. The Plutonium Finishing Plant complex,
also known as Z Plant, was perhaps the most guarded secret at
Hanford. It was the final step in Hanford's plutonium production cycle. Hanford produced nearly two-thirds of
the nation's plutonium stockpile. Well, from a security perspective it was
the innermost sanctum for all of the security measures that were put in place accross the Site. For years barriers, razor wire, guns, guards, bomb-sniffing dogs, and secrecy surrounded the 14-acre
complex. To enter the complex, workers, and the few
visitors who were authorized, had to go through multiple searches,
metal detectors, and nuclear material detectors. All that security protected not only the
products but the process. More than twenty million uranium rods
fabricated in Hanford's 300 Area were irradiated at Hanford's 9
production reactors. The rods were then processed into liquid
plutonium nitrate at large chemical processing plants. That liquid was sent to the Plutonium
Finishing Plant where hundreds of workers wearing layers of protective
gear turn it into plutonium metal or plutonium oxide powder. The plutonium was then stored safely until
it was needed at a weapons manufacturing facility in another state. Hanford expanded the Plutonium Finishing
Plant complex several times during the Cold War until it eventually included more than
eighty structures with four main facilities. One of the four facilities was the
Plutonium Finishing Plant itself which contain 2 plutonium production
lines and 3 laboratories. Workers in this facility worked elbow-deep in protective equipment supporting the defense mission by processing plutonium. Another facility, the Americium Recovery Facility, was used to recover plutonium and americium from liquid waste generated in the plant
complex. The Plutonium Reclamation Facility
contained a four-story canyon and several floors of glove boxes used to reclaim plutonium from solid and
liquid waste products generated during the production of plutonium. A four building Vault Complex was used to
package, monitor, and safeguard the finished plutonium. This was the last stop for the plutonium
oxide powder and the solid hockey-puck size plutonium buttons
before they were shipped from Hanford to nuclear weapons manufacturing sites. The plutonium production mission ceased
at the end of the Cold War in 1989. More than 20 tons of material
containing plutonium was left in various processing stages at the Plutonium
Finishing Plant complex. From 1990 to 2004 workers stabilized and packaged the leftover material. Material containing residual plutonium was shipped off the site as waste. The rest of the material was stored in the
vault complex. In 2007 the U.S. Department of Energy designated a national plutonium storage
site at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This cleared the way for the nuclear
material stored at the Plutonium Finishing Plant complex to be shipped
out of Washington State. It took more than two years to safely
transport the plutonium across the country, and in late 2009 the last shipment left the facility. A few months after the last truck left so did the complex security needs. People found themselves able to simply
walk into their workplace every day; it was a watershed moment for people; it
was a dramatic change in what they
were used to. I think most of the folks that worked at the
plutonium plant did feel both bitter and sweet at the same time; it's part of the mission; it's what we're here to do. It makes our job easier from a deactivation and decommissioning
standpoint. But at the same time it's a way of life that doesn't exist anymore. Today the Plutonium Finishing Plant is the
focus of a major cleanup effort to decontaminated the complex, remove the processing equipment inside,
and tear it down. More than sixty remaining buildings are
being cleaned out and removed to clean up the hazards of the plutonium
production legacy. To accomplish this monumental cleanup
effort workers are removing and disposing of more than 230 large
pieces of equipment called glove boxes and hoods, miles of process, drain, and vacuum pipe, more than 6,000 feet of
ventilation duct work, 196 3 to 22 foot long pencil shape tanks, and thousands of pieces of equipment that
supported the plutonium production process, nearly all of it contaminated to some
degree with nuclear materials. The levels of contamination at the
Plutonium Finishing Plant complex can require workers to suit up in layers of protective clothing including full body coverings and face covering
hoods attached to supplied air. Just getting ready to work in hazardous
conditions can take twenty minutes and removing protective clothing is
just as meticulous. For just a few workers to enter some
areas, it can take a support team of dozens to manage clean air supplies,
decontamination, and coordination of safety efforts
during the work. And if that isn't challenging enough the facilities themselves are aging. At more than 63 years old keeping the complex safe for workers
becomes more difficult and expensive each year, making it a priority for cleanup and demolition. Obviously the Plutonium Finishing Plant was very critical to the Hanford mission during the Cold War. However, all the years of plutonium production at the Plutonium Finishing Plant left the facility as one of the most
contaminated facilities on the Hanford Site. Along with cleaning up the River
Corridor, cleaning up of groundwater at the Hanford Site, and
construction of the Waste Treatment Plant cleaning up the Plutonium Finishing Plant is one of the State's highest priorities. Much work has been done to get the
Department of Energy closer to its goal of cleaning out and demolishing all of the Plutonium Finishing Plant complex's structures by the end of 2015. Much work remains, including clean up of some of the most
contaminated areas of the plant. The Department of Energy and contractor
CH2M Hill are committed to safely completing the cleanup of the plant using the best training, safety techniques, and decontamination methods to demolish the last of the buildings that once made
up this pillar of the Cold War.
