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Jerry Pillarelli | profile | all galleries >> Travel and Nature >> US Travel; by Trip, by State >> Washington >> Manhattan Project National Historical Park – Hanford Reach Unit – Washington tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Manhattan Project National Historical Park – Hanford Reach Unit – Washington

Images of Hanford Reach Unit, Manhattan Project National Historical Park – Central Washington, taken in August 2021.

The Hanford Reach Unit is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park which also includes facilities in Los Alamos New Mexico and Oak Ridge Tennessee; all are managed by the National Park Service.

The facility at Hanford Reach is home to the B Reactor, the first full-scale nuclear reactor ever built. Plutonium developed in this reactor was used in the world’s first man-made atomic explosion at the Trinity test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945 and in the ‘Fat Man’ atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki Japan on August 9, 1945.

Of the nine reactors at Hanford Reach, six have been ‘cocooned’, entombed to prevent the escape of radioactive materials, two are scheduled to be cocooned and the B Reactor has been given National Historical Status and will be maintained as a museum. All cocooned reactors will be maintained for 75 years after which the materials will no longer be dangerous and can be disposed of properly.

There is no public access to the site so I had to drive around the perimeter and shoot images using my long lens, pulling off the road wherever I found a dirt patch big enough to support my car. In a way it felt like a spy mission of some kind even though the old reactors are in plain sight. One thing is for sure, it was interesting learning about this bit of nuclear history.
Information board, and warnings in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Information board, and warnings in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 Emergency warning system in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Emergency warning system in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 Hanford Reach Access Station in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Hanford Reach Access Station in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 New development at the active Department of Energy site in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
New development at the active Department of Energy site in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 B Reactor (left) and the ‘cocooned’ C Reactor along the banks of the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
B Reactor (left) and the ‘cocooned’ C Reactor along the banks of the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
The B Reactor along the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
The B Reactor along the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 The K-West Reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
The K-West Reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 Hanford Reach B Reactor and the entombed (cocooned) C Reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Hanford Reach B Reactor and the entombed (cocooned) C Reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 View of the B Reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
View of the B Reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 The K-West Reactor (left) and the B Reactor (right) in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
The K-West Reactor (left) and the B Reactor (right) in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Cocooned reactors dot the countryside in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Cocooned reactors dot the countryside in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 A cocooned reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
A cocooned reactor in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 The Hanford facility along the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
The Hanford facility along the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 Entombed reactor on the banks of the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Entombed reactor on the banks of the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP		 Cocooned F Reactor with the White Cliffs of the Columbia River in the background in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP
Cocooned F Reactor with the White Cliffs of the Columbia River in the background in the Hanford Reach Unit MPNHP

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Guest 01-Sep-2021 02:09
Thanks for the views. I visited Hanford for a job interview in 1981. Had no idea where I was on the site, was there for about 6 hours. Creepy then, must be more so now. >Tim
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