The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the U.S. federal govt on the Columbia River in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington. The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Project, Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works & Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project in Hanford, south-central Washington, the site was home to the B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site, & in Fat Man, the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan.
During the Cold War, the project expanded to include 9 nuclear reactors & 5 large plutonium processing complexes, which produced plutonium for most of the >60,000 weapons built for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Nuclear tech developed rapidly during this period, & Hanford scientists produced major tech achievements. Many early safety procedures & waste disposal practices were inadequate, & govt documents have confirmed that Hanford's operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials into the air & the Columbia River.
In 1989, the State of Washington (Dept. of Ecology), US Enviro Protection Agency (EPA), & the US Dept of Energy (DOE) entered into the Tri-Party Agreement which sets targets, or milestones, for cleanup. EPA & Ecology share regulatory oversight based on CERCLA (Superfund) & RCRA.
The weapons production reactors were decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, & decades of manufacturing left behind 53 million US gallons of high-level radioactive waste stored within 177 storage tanks, an additional 25 million cubic feet of solid radioactive waste, & areas of heavy Technetium-99 & uranium contaminated groundwater beneath 3 tank farms on the site as well as the potential for future groundwater contamination beneath currently contaminated soils. In 2011, DOE, the federal agency charged with overseeing the site, "interim stabilized" 149 single-shell tanks by pumping nearly all of the liquid waste out into 28 newer double-shell tanks. Solids, known as salt cake & sludge, remained. DOE later found water intruding into at least 14 single-shell tanks & that one of them had been leaking about 640 US gallons) per year into the ground since about 2010. In 2012, DOE discovered a leak also from a double-shell tank caused by construction flaws & corrosion in the bottom, & that 12 double-shell tanks have similar construction flaws. Since then, the DOE changed to monitoring single-shell tanks monthly & double-shell tanks every 3 years, & also changed monitoring methods. In Mar 2014, the DOE announced further delays in the construction of the Waste Treatment Plant, which will affect the schedule for removing waste from the tanks. Intermittent discoveries of undocumented contamination have slowed the pace & raised the cost of cleanup.
In 2007, the Hanford site represented 60% of high-level radioactive waste by volume managed by the US Dept of Energy & 7?9% of all nuclear waste in the U.S. (the DOE manages 15% of nuclear waste in the US, with the remaining 85% being commercial spent nuclear fuel). Hanford is currently the most contaminated nuclear site in the U.S. & is the focus of the nation's largest enviro cleanup. Besides the cleanup project, Hanford also hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station, & various centers for scientific R&D, such as the Pacific Northwest National Lab & the LIGO Hanford Observatory.
On Nov 10, 2015, it was designated as part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park alongside other sites in Oak Ridge & Los Alamos. [...] The confluence of the Yakima, Snake, & Columbia rivers has been a meeting place for native peoples for centuries. The archaeological record of Native American habitation of this area stretches back over 10,000 years. Tribes & nations including the Yakama, Nez Perce, & Umatilla used the area for hunting, fishing, & gathering plant foods. Hanford archaeologists have identified numerous Native American sites, including "pit house villages, open campsites, fish farming sites, hunting/kill sites, game drive complexes, quarries, & spirit quest sites", & two archaeological sites were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Native American use of the area continued into the 20th century, even as the tribes were relocated to reservations. The Wanapum people were never forced onto a reservation, & they lived along the Columbia River in the Priest Rapids Valley until 1943. Settlers moved into the region in the 1860s, initially along the Columbia River south of Priest Rapids. They established farms & orchards supported by small-scale irrigation projects & railroad transport, with small town centers at Hanford, White Bluffs, & Richland.
During WWII, the S-1 Section of the federal Office of Scientific Research & Development (OSRD) sponsored an intensive research project on plutonium. The research contract was awarded to scientists at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Lab (Met Lab). At the time, plutonium was a rare element that had only recently been isolated in a Univ of California lab. The Met Lab researchers worked on producing chain-reacting "piles" of uranium to convert it to plutonium & finding ways to separate plutonium from uranium. The program was accelerated in 1942, as the U.S. govt became concerned that scientists in Nazi Germany were developing a nuclear weapons program. On Mar 10, 1945, the Hanford Plutonium Works had been temporarily shut down due to Japanese bomb carrying balloon attacks, which had been ongoing since Nov 3, 1944. The general public was not made aware of it, until Aug 31, 1945, when such info was released to the public, WWII ended two days later, on Sept 2, 1945. [...] While major releases of radioactive material ended with the reactor shutdown in the 1970s & many of the most dangerous wastes are contained, there are continued concerns about contaminated groundwater headed toward the Columbia River & about workers' health & safety.
The most significant challenge at Hanford is stabilizing the 53,000,000 US gallons of high-level radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks. By 1998, about 1/3 of these tanks had leaked waste into the soil & groundwater. As of 2008, most of the liquid waste had been transferred to more secure double-shelled tanks; however, 2,800,000 US gallons of liquid waste, together with 27,000,000 US gallons of salt cake & sludge, remains in the single-shelled tanks. DOE lacks info about the extent to which the 27 double-shell tanks may be susceptible to corrosion. Without determining the extent to which the factors that contributed to the leak in AY-102 were similar to the other 27 double-shell tanks, DOE cannot be sure how long its double-shell tanks can safely store waste. That waste was originally scheduled to be removed by 2018. As of 2008, the revised deadline was 2040. Nearby aquifers contain an estimated 270 billion US gallons of contaminated groundwater as a result of the leaks. As of 2008, 1,000,000 US gallons of radioactive waste is traveling thru the groundwater toward the Columbia River. This waste is expected to reach the river in 12 to 50 years if cleanup does not proceed on schedule. The site includes 25 million cubic feet of solid radioactive waste.