May 2nd, 2024 - Reactor B at the Hanford Nuclear Plant

About 8 months ago when I was deciding where our journey would take us until we ended up in Arizona, I found the Los Alamos Labs which was part of the Manhattan Project and that became part of the plan.  As many of you know, we did not go because they had snow and it was getting colder so we changed our plans.

In doing that research I found out about the tours to the Nevada Test Site, the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas, and the Hanford Nuclear Plant tour.  We did go to the Atomic Museum (Fantastic!), I missed out on the Nevada Test Site Tour (sold out in 2 minutes but I will try again) and finally snagged a tour of Reactor B at the Hanford Site (which will be shut down for 2 years starting in June).  There is another tour of the area before the Manhattan Project but couldn't get on a tour this time. 

Another part of this is the Trinity Site.  They do tours twice a year and years ago, we were able to get there. Here is the blog about that visit: https://thehitzels.blogspot.com/search?q=trinity+site

The Hanford Site is part of the Manhattan Project National Historic Sites.  There are three sites: Oak Ridge Tennessee (we did part of that many years ago), the Los Alamos Site, and the Hanford Site.

The B Reactor is the WORLD'S First Nuclear Reactor. 

If you want to know more information, it can be found here: https://nps.gov/mapr/index.htm .  

https://www.energy.gov/lm/historic-sites

https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ranger/

OK!  So, we arrived at the Manhattan Project National Historic Site early.  We checked in and went thru their small museum.  Right on time, our docent started our tour.  He talked about the history of the project, history of the NHS and the three areas (they have only been national since 2015), what we are going to see on this tour (there are other tours for other things), safety protocols, and our schedule.  

We watched a 15 minute video about the beginnings and then we were loaded on the bus to take us to Reactor B.  Along the way, he told us about the history of the area and the Ice Age Floods (will check that out next time).

Coming close to Reactor B:

In the distance was the safe zone and some housing:

Up close:

B Reactor - world's first full-scale plutonium production reactor:

We got off the bus and headed to the first presentation. 

Here we are in front of the world first plutonium reactor - WOW!

Our docent talked about what happens in these tubes - all 2004 of them:

Water pipes to cool the reactions:

I have to say - walking into that room and seeing this was very humbling.  The docent explained how the reactor was built and what happened in each of those tubes. (Sorry, I cannot even do the simplified version because I don't truly understand.)

After the presentation we had some time to wander into the other rooms before the next presentation in the control room. 

Great idea as a backup to shut down the reactor:

We found these everywhere - which I can truly understand:

We continued our wanders into the Fuel Storage Area:

The transfer and storage area - the water was under these grates:

The next docent talk was in the control room.

Every single one of those tubes had to be monitored.  They used a library ladder so they did not have to touch the panels.  Between the control room and these tubes and the work involved, they changed out the workers every two hours.

Oh No... Andy is in control - LOL!:

Let's talk about Leona - one of the nuclear engineers here at the site.  Remember this is 1942.

She was a pioneer in her field.

One of her inventions:

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/leona-libby

After the presentation, we continued our wander into the history room.  A few items that we felt were interesting:

There was a display of many types of Geiger Counters - we thought this was cute:

From there into the water/cooling area:

Notice the tops off of all the connecting pipes.

When the agreement was made to stop producing... the only way to prove that was to stop the flow of water to the reactors.  When the federal committee would visit, this is one of the ways to prove that they were not producing anymore.

Our last stop was the intake area which brought in fresh air to the facility:

We were able to wander around the site - in and out - for about two hours.  It was amazing and humbling at the same time.

At the end of the tour, we boarded the bus and our bus driver and docent told us more about the area that we passed thru - historical and geological.

What a great time and we HIGHLY recommend if you are in the area.

We stopped at the Bombing Range Brewery for lunch afterward - great.

Tomorrow we continue our journey north so stay tuned and enjoy today.