Editing Hanford Site (section)

==Manhattan Project==
{{Main|Hanford Engineer Works}}

===Contractor selection===
During [[World War II]], the [[S-1 Section]] of the federal [[Office of Scientific Research and Development]] (OSRD) sponsored a research project on [[plutonium]]. Research was conducted by scientists at the [[University of Chicago]] [[Metallurgical Laboratory]]. At the time, plutonium was a rare element that had only recently been synthesized in laboratories. It was theorized that plutonium was [[fissile]] and could be used in an [[atomic bomb]]. The United States government was concerned that [[Nazi Germany]] was developing a [[German nuclear weapons program|nuclear weapons program]]. The Metallurgical Laboratory physicists worked on designing [[nuclear reactor]]s ("piles") that could irradiate [[uranium]] and transmute it into plutonium. Meanwhile, chemists investigated ways to separate plutonium from uranium.{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|p=1.10}}

In September 1942, [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] [[Leslie R. Groves Jr.]] became the director of the [[Manhattan Project]], as it came to be known.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=77}} The project to build industrial-size plants for the manufacture of plutonium was codenamed the X{{nbh}}10 project.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=1.1}} Groves engaged [[DuPont]], a firm he had worked with in the past on the construction of explosives plants, to design, construct and operate the plutonium manufacturing complex.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=105}}{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=42–44}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=97}}

To avoid being labeled as [[merchants of death]], as the company had been after World War{{spaces}}I, DuPont's executive committee insisted that it should receive no payment. For legal reasons, a [[Cost Plus Fixed Fee]] contract was agreed, with a fee of one dollar. The president of DuPont, [[Walter S. Carpenter Jr.]], was given assurances that the government was assuming all responsibility for the hazards involved in the project.{{sfn|Hounshell|Smith|1988|p=339}}{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=58–59}}

===Site selection===
Carpenter expressed reservations about building the reactors at [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]]; with [[Knoxville]] only {{convert|20|mi}} away, a catastrophic accident might result in loss of life and severe health effects. Even a less deadly accident might disrupt vital war production, particularly of aluminum, and force the evacuation of the Manhattan Project's [[isotope separation]] plants. Spreading the facilities at Oak Ridge out more would require the purchase of more land and the expansion needed was still uncertain; for planning purposes, six reactors and four chemical separation plants were envisioned.{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=69–71}}

The ideal site was described by eight criteria:
#A clean and abundant water supply (at least {{convert|25,000|USgal/min|L/s}})
#A large electric power supply (about 100,000&nbsp;kW)
#A "hazardous manufacturing area" of at least {{convert|12|by|16|mi|km|0}}
#Space for laboratory facilities at least {{convert|8|mi|km|0}} from the nearest reactor or separations plant
#The employees' village no less than {{convert|10|mi}} upwind of the plant
#No towns of more than a thousand people closer than {{convert|20|mi|km|0}} from the hazardous rectangle
#No main highway, railway, or employee village closer than {{convert|10|mi|km|0}} from the hazardous rectangle
#Ground that could bear heavy loads{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=69–71}}

The most important of these criteria was the availability of electric power. The needs of war industries had created power shortages in many parts of the country, and use of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA) was ruled out because the [[Clinton Engineer Works]] was expected to use up all its surplus power. This led to consideration of alternative sites in the [[Pacific Northwest]] and [[Pacific Southwest|Southwest]], where there was surplus electrical power. Between December 18 and 31, 1942, just twelve days after the Metallurgical Laboratory team led by [[Enrico Fermi]] started up [[Chicago Pile&nbsp;1]], the first nuclear reactor, a three-man party consisting of Colonel [[Franklin T. Matthias]] and DuPont engineers A. E. S. Hall and Gilbert P. Church inspected the most promising potential sites.{{sfn|Thayer|1996|p=26}}{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=70–74}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Gilbert Church's Interview |publisher= Manhattan Project Voices |url=https://www.manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/gilbert-churchs-interview |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947c|pp=2.4–2.6}} Matthias reported to Groves that the Hanford Site was "far more favorable in virtually all respects than any other";{{sfn|Gerber|1992|p=6}} the survey party was particularly impressed by the fact that a high-voltage power line from Grand Coulee Dam to [[Bonneville Dam]] ran through the site, and there was an [[electrical substation]] on its edge. Groves visited the site on January 16, 1943, and approved the selection.{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=74–75}} The facility became known as the [[Hanford Engineer Works]] (HEW), and the site was codenamed Site{{spaces}}W.<ref name=HistoryLink2>{{cite web |last=Oldham |first=Kit |title=Construction of massive plutonium production complex at Hanford begins in March 1943 |publisher=History Link |url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5363 |date=March 5, 2003 |access-date=April 6, 2008}}</ref>

===Land acquisition===
[[File:Pic hanford highschool.jpg|thumb|right|[[Hanford High School]] before residents were displaced by the creation of the Hanford Site]]
[[File:Hanford High School.jpg|thumb|right|Hanford High School after abandonment]]
The [[Secretary of War]], [[Henry L. Stimson]], authorized the acquisition of the land on February 8, 1943.{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=74–75}}{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d|p=4.1}} A Manhattan District project office opened in [[Prosser, Washington]], on February 22, and the Washington Title Insurance Company opened an office there to furnish [[Title (property)|title]] certificates. Federal Judge [[Lewis B. Schwellenbach]] issued an order of possession under the [[Second War Powers Act]] the following day, and the first tract was acquired on March 10.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d|p=4.1}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Second War Powers Act 56 Stat. 176 (1942) |publisher=US Government |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2009-title50/USCODE-2009-title50-app-secondwar/summary |access-date=October 10, 2022}}</ref> Some 4,218 tracts totaling {{convert | 428,203.95 | acre }} were to be acquired,{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d|pp=3.1–3.3}} making it one of the largest land acquisition projects in American history.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d|pp=4.1–4.2}}

Most of the land (some 88 percent) was sagebrush, where eighteen to twenty thousand sheep grazed. About eleven percent was farmland, although not all was under cultivation. Farmers felt that they should be compensated for the value of the crops they had planted as well as for the land itself.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=331–334}} Because construction plans had not yet been drawn up, and work on the site could not immediately commence, Groves decided to postpone the taking of the physical possession of properties under cultivation to allow farmers to harvest the crops they had already planted. This reduced the hardship on the farmers, and avoided the wasting of food at a time when the nation was facing food shortages and the federal government was urging citizens to plant [[victory garden]]s.{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=76–77}}{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d||pp=4.12–4.13, 4.20–4.21 }} The [[United States Department of War|War Department]] arranged with [[Federal Prison Industries]] for crops to be harvested by prisoners from the [[McNeil Island Penitentiary]].{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d||pp=4.25–4.26 }}{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=334}}

The harvest in the spring and summer of 1943 was exceptionally good, and high crop prices due to the war greatly increased land values. Litigation was needed to resolve disputes over the compensation due to the sellers.{{sfn|Groves|1983|pp=76–77}}{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d|pp=4.12–4.13, 4.20–4.21 }} Discontent over the acquisition was apparent in letters sent from Hanford Site residents to the War and [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]]s, and the [[Truman Committee]] began making inquiries. Stimson met with chairman of the committee, Senator [[Harry S. Truman]], who agreed to remove the Hanford Site from the committee's investigations on the grounds of national security. Trial juries were sympathetic to the claims of the landowners and the payments awarded were well in excess of the government appraisals.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=335–338}} When the Manhattan Project ended on December 31, 1946, there were still 237 tracts remaining to be settled.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947d|p=5.3 }}

About 1,500 residents of Hanford, White Bluffs, and nearby settlements were relocated, as well as the Wanapum people, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the [[Yakima Nation]], the Confederated Tribes of the [[Umatilla Indian Reservation]], and the Nez Perce Tribe.<ref>{{cite web |last=Department of Energy: Hanford |title=Department of Energy's Tribal Program: The DOE Tribal Program at Hanford |url=http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/inp |publisher=DOE Hanford |access-date=April 20, 2014}}</ref>{{sfn|Brown|2013|pp=33–36}}

Native Americans were accustomed to fishing in the Columbia River near White Bluffs for two or three weeks in October. The fish they caught were dried and provided food for the winter. The Natives rejected offers of an annual cash payment, and a deal was struck allowing the chief and his two assistants to issue passes to fish at the site. This authority was later revoked for security reasons. Matthias gave assurances that Native American graves would be treated with respect, but it would be fifteen years before the Wanapum people were allowed access to mark the cemeteries. In 1997, the elders were permitted to bring children and young adults onto the site once a year to learn about their sacred sites.{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|pp=1.12–1.13}}

===Construction workforce===
DuPont advertised for workers in newspapers for an unspecified "war construction project" in southeastern Washington, offering an "attractive scale of wages" and living facilities.<ref name="milwaukeesentinel">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UEMxAAAAIBAJ&pg=7157%2C1687590 |title=Needed by E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company for Pacific Northwest (advertisement)|newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |date=June 6, 1944 |access-date=March 25, 2013 |pages=1–5 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Normally for a development in such an isolated area, employees would be accommodated on site, but in this case for security and safety reasons it was desirable to locate them at least {{convert|10|mi}} away. Even the construction workforce could not be housed on site, because some plant operations would have to be carried out during start-up testing. The Army and DuPont engineers decided to create two communities: a temporary constructions camp and a more substantial operating village. Construction was expedited by locating them on the sites of existing villages to take advantage of the buildings, roads and utility infrastructure already in place. They established the construction camp on the site of the village of Hanford, and the operating village on that of Richland.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=450–451}}
[[File:Hanford workers.jpg|thumb|left|Hanford workers line up for paychecks.]]
The construction workforce peaked at 45,096 on June 21, 1944.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947e|p=4.14}} About thirteen percent were women, and non-whites made up 16.45 percent. African-Americans lived in [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] quarters, had their own [[mess]]es and recreation areas,{{sfn|Findlay|Hevly|1995|pp=16–19}} and were paid less than white workers.{{sfn|Brown|2013|p=27}} Three types of accommodation were provided at Hanford: barracks, hutments and trailer parking. The first workers to arrive lived in tents while they erected the first barracks. Barracks construction commenced on April 6, 1943, and eventually 195 barracks were erected: 110 for white men, 21 for black men, 57 for white women and seven for black women. Hutments were prefabricated [[plywood]] and [[Celotex]] dwellings capable of accommodating ten to twenty workers each. Between them, the barracks and hutments held 39,050 workers. Many workers had their own trailers, taking their families with them from one wartime construction job to the next. Seven trailer camps were established, and at the peak of construction work 12,008 people were living in them.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=455}}{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947e|pp=5.6–5.10}}

DuPont put the contract for building the village of Richland out to tender, and the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, [[Gustav Albin Pehrson|G. Albin Pehrson]], on March 16, 1943. Pehrson produced a series of standard house designs based on the [[Cape Cod (house)|Cape Cod]] and [[ranch-style house]] design fashions of the day.{{sfn|Hales|1997|pp=95–99}} Pehrson accepted the need for speed and efficiency, but his vision of a model late-20th-century community differed from the austere concept of Groves. Pehrson ultimately had his way on most issues, because he worked for DuPont, not the Army.{{sfn|Hales|1997|pp=95–99}} The resulting compromise would handicap Richland for many years with inadequate sidewalks, stores and shops, no civic center, and roads that were too narrow. Unlike Oak Ridge and [[Los Alamos, New Mexico|Los Alamos]], Richland was not surrounded by a high wire fence, thus Matthias asked DuPont to ensure that it was kept neat and tidy.{{sfn|Findlay|Hevly|1995|pp=36–39}}

===Construction===
[[File:Hanford B reactor construction.jpg|thumb|right|[[B Reactor]] construction (1944)]]
Construction of the nuclear facilities proceeded rapidly. Before the end of the war in August 1945, the HEW built 554 buildings at Hanford, including three nuclear reactors (105{{nbh}}B, 105{{nbh}}D, and 105{{nbh}}F) and three plutonium processing plants (221{{nbh}}T, 221{{nbh}}B, and 221{{nbh}}U).{{sfn|Gerber|1992|p=6}} The project required {{convert|386|mi|km|0}} of roads, {{convert|158|mi|km|0}} of railway, and four electrical substations. The HEW used {{convert|780,000|yd3}} of concrete and {{convert|40,000|ST}} of structural steel.{{sfn|Gerber|1992|pp=35–36}}

Construction on B Reactor commenced in August 1943 and was completed on September 13, 1944. The reactor went [[Critical mass|critical]] in late September and, after overcoming [[neutron poison]]ing, produced its first plutonium on November 6, 1944.{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|pp=1.22–1.27}} The reactors were [[Nuclear graphite|graphite]] moderated and water cooled. They consisted of a {{convert|28|by|36|ft|sp=us|adj=on}}, {{convert|1200|ST|t|adj=on}} graphite cylinder lying on its side, penetrated horizontally through its entire length by 2,004 aluminum tubes containing {{convert|200|ST}} of uranium slugs.{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|pp=1.15, 1.30}}{{sfn|Harvey|1990|p=11}} They had no moving parts; the only sounds were those of the water pumps.<ref>{{cite web |title=B Reactor |publisher= Hanford Site |url=https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/BReactor |access-date=October 30, 2022}}</ref> [[Cooling water]] was pumped through the tubes at the rate of {{convert|30,000|USgal/min|L/s}}.{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|pp=1.15, 1.30}} This was enough water for a city of a million people.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947c|p=2.12}}{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947e|pp=5.63–5.65}}

===Production process===
{{Further|B Reactor}}{{anchor|Hanford piles}}
Uranium arrived at the Hanford Engineer Works in the form of [[Billet (semi-finished product)|billet]]s. In the Metal Fabrication and Testing (300) Area they were extruded into rods and machined into cylindrical pieces, {{convert|1.569|in|cm}} in diameter and {{convert|8|in|cm}} long, known as "slugs". The initial charge of the three reactors required more than twenty thousand billets, and another two thousand were needed each month. Uranium is highly reactive with water, so to protect the slugs from corrosion by the cooling water they were canned in aluminum after being dipped into a molten bath of copper–tin alloy, and the cap was [[arc welding|arc welded]] on. A defective can could burst and jam in the reactor, stop the flow of cooling water, and force a complete shutdown of the reactor, so the canning process had to be precise.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947f|pp=2.1–2.2}}{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947c|pp=5.48–5.49}}

[[File:Hanford B Reactor.jpg|thumb|left|Workers lay the graphite [[neutron moderator]] of B{{spaces}}Reactor during construction.]]
Irradiated fuel slugs were transported by rail on a special railroad car operated by remote control to huge remotely-operated chemical separation plants about {{convert|10|mi|km|0}} away.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947f|pp=2.7–2.8}} The separation buildings were massive windowless concrete structures, {{convert|800|ft}} long, {{convert|80|ft}} high and {{convert|65|ft}} wide, with concrete walls {{convert|3|to|5|ft}} thick. Inside the buildings were canyons and galleries where [[Bismuth-phosphate process|a series of chemical processing steps]] separated the small amount of plutonium from the remaining uranium and [[fission products]].{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=219–222}}{{sfn|Gerber|1996|p=4–1}}

Items were moved about with a {{convert|60|ft|adj=on}} long [[overhead crane]]. Once they began processing irradiated slugs, the machinery became so radioactive that it would be unsafe for humans ever to come in contact with it, so the engineers devised methods to allow for the replacement of components via remote control.{{sfn|Groueff|1967|pp=292–296}} Periscopes and [[closed-circuit television]] gave the operator a view of the process. They assembled the equipment by remote control as if the area was already radioactive.{{sfn|Groueff|1967|pp=292–296}} To receive the radioactive wastes from the chemical separations process, there were "tank farms" consisting of 64 single-shell underground waste tanks.{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|pp=1.21–1.23}}

The first batch of plutonium was refined in the 221{{nbh}}T plant from December 26, 1944, to February 2, 1945, and delivered to the [[Los Alamos Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]] on February 5, 1945.{{sfn|Findlay|Hevly|1995|p=50}} Two identical reactors, D{{spaces}}Reactor and F{{spaces}}Reactor, came online on December 5, 1944, and February 15, 1945, respectively, and all three reactors were running at full power (250 megawatts) by March 8, 1945.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947f|p=5.5}} By April kilogram-quantity shipments of plutonium were headed to Los Alamos. Road convoys replaced the trains in May, and in late July shipments began being dispatched by air from the airport at Hanford.{{sfn|Findlay|Hevly|1995|pp=50–51}}

===Production activities===
[[File:224-T Transfer lines.jpg|thumb|right|The 224-T plant under construction, showing the transfer pipes]]
Although the reactors could be shut down in two-and-a-half seconds, they would still generate heat due to the decay of fission products. It was therefore vital that the flow of water should not cease.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947c|p=2.12}}{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947e|pp=5.63–5.65}} If the power failed, the steam pumps would automatically cut in and continue to deliver water at full capacity for long enough to allow an orderly shutdown.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947c|p=5.69}} This occurred on March 10, 1945, when a Japanese [[Fu-Go balloon bomb|balloon bomb]] struck a high-tension line between Grand Coulee and Bonneville. This caused an electrical surge in the lines to the reactors. A [[scram]] was automatically initiated and the safety devices shut the reactors down. The bomb failed to explode and the transmission line was not badly damaged.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=267}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Japanese Balloon Attack Almost Interrupted Building First Atomic Bombs |publisher=Inside Science |date=March 21, 2016 |first=Joel |last=Shurkin |url=https://www.insidescience.org/news/japanese-balloon-attack-almost-interrupted-building-first-atomic-bombs |access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref> The Hanford Engineer Works was the only U.S. nuclear facility to come under enemy attack.{{sfn|Carlisle|Zenzen|2019|pp=41–42}}

Hanford provided the plutonium for the bomb used in the 1945 [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity nuclear test]].{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|p=1.27}}  Throughout this period, the Manhattan Project maintained a top-secret classification. Fewer than one percent of Hanford's workers knew they were working on a nuclear weapons project.{{sfn|Marceau|Harvey|Stapp|Cannon|2002|p=1.22}} Groves noted in his memoirs that "We made certain that each member of the project thoroughly understood his part in the total effort; that, and nothing more."{{sfn|Groves|1983|p=xv}} The existence and purpose of Hanford was publicly revealed through press releases on August 7 and 9, 1945, after the [[bombing of Hiroshima]] but before Hanford plutonium was used (in a [[Fat Man]]) during the [[bombing of Nagasaki]] on August 9.{{sfn|Gerber|2007|p=295}}

Matthias was succeeded as area engineer by Colonel [[Frederick J. Clarke]] in January 1946.{{sfn|Cullum|1950|p=897}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=584}} DuPont would soon be gone too. Carpenter asked to be released from the contract.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=629}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=591–592}} Groves informed [[Robert P. Patterson]], who had succeeded Stimson as Secretary of War on September 21, 1945,{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=420}} Groves's choice of replacement was [[General Electric]] (GE),{{sfn|Carlisle|Zenzen|2019|p=54}} which took over operations at Hanford on September 1, 1946, and accepted a formal control on September 30.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=629}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=591–592}} On December 31, 1946, the Manhattan Project ended and control of the Hanford Site passed to the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC).{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=599–600}} The total cost of the Hanford Engineer Works up to that time was {{inflation|US|348,101,240|orig=yes|1946|fmt=eq}}.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947e|pp=11.4, B56}}