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183-777: The Hanford Engineer Works ( HEW ) was a nuclear production complex in Benton County, Washington , established by the United States federal government in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II. It built and operated the B Reactor , the first full-scale plutonium production reactor . Plutonium manufactured at the HEW was used in the atomic bomb detonated in the Trinity test in July 1945, and in

366-458: A nuclear deterrent . Just over four years later, on August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its first fission weapon . The United Kingdom followed on October 2, 1952; France , on February 13, 1960; and China component to a nuclear weapon. Approximately half of the deaths from Hiroshima and Nagasaki died two to five years afterward from radiation exposure. A radiological weapon

549-479: A nuclear proliferation risk as they can be configured to produce plutonium , as well as tritium gas used in boosted fission weapons . Reactor spent fuel can be reprocessed to yield up to 25% more nuclear fuel, which can be used in reactors again. Reprocessing can also significantly reduce the volume of nuclear waste, and has been practiced in Europe, Russia, India and Japan. Due to concerns of proliferation risks,

732-558: A " neutron howitzer ") produced a barium residue, which they reasoned was created by fission of the uranium nuclei. In their second publication on nuclear fission in February 1939, Hahn and Strassmann predicted the existence and liberation of additional neutrons during the fission process, opening the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction . Subsequent studies in early 1939 (one of them by Szilárd and Fermi), revealed that several neutrons were indeed released during fission, making available

915-645: A Japanese balloon bomb struck a high-tension power line. The total cost of the HEW up to December 1946 was over $ 348   million (equivalent to $ 4.1   billion in 2023). The Manhattan Project ended on 31 December 1946 and control of the HEW passed from the Manhattan District to the Atomic Energy Commission . During World War II, the S-1 Section of the federal Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) sponsored

1098-468: A Manufacturing Division under R. Monte Evans to supervise plant operations. Construction was the responsibility of DuPont's Engineering Department, whose head, E. G. Ackart, assigned responsibility for the plutonium project to his deputy Granville M. Read . Eventually, 90 percent of DuPont's engineering personnel and resources were devoted to the Manhattan Project. Secretary Stimson authorized

1281-405: A cassette. After a certain exposure time, the film is developed and it shows any internal defects of the material. Gauges - Gauges use the exponential absorption law of gamma rays Electrostatic control - To avoid the build-up of static electricity in production of paper, plastics, synthetic textiles, etc., a ribbon-shaped source of the alpha emitter Am can be placed close to the material at

1464-441: A combination of fission and fusion . Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. Even small nuclear devices can devastate a city by blast, fire and radiation. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction , and their use and control has been a major aspect of international policy since their debut. The design of a nuclear weapon is more complicated than it might seem. Such

1647-441: A crucial role in generating large amounts of electricity with low carbon emissions, contributing significantly to the global energy mix. Just as conventional thermal power stations generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels , nuclear reactors convert the energy released by controlled nuclear fission into thermal energy for further conversion to mechanical or electrical forms. When

1830-410: A day (equivalent to $ 141 in 2023) when $ 3 to $ 4 was usual elsewhere in the nation; skilled pipefitters and electricians earned $ 15 a day when $ 10 was normal. Between 1943 and 1946, the recruiters interviewed 262,040 people and hired 94,307 of them. The Hanford Engineer Works had high standards. Those hired as welders had to present work records and job references dating back fifteen years and then pass

2013-448: A fission reaction to detonate. It took until 1952 for the first full hydrogen bomb to be detonated, so-called because it used reactions between deuterium and tritium . Fusion reactions are much more energetic per unit mass of fuel than fission reactions, but starting the fusion chain reaction is much more difficult. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions , either fission or

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2196-521: A five-and-a-half-day and then a six-day work week. Workers worked ten hours a day. An eight-week campaign reduced the rate of absenteeism from 9.8 percent in November 1943 to 5.3 percent in September 1944. Certain skills were in high demand. One was pipefitting ; the reactors required water to cool them, and the chemical separation plants moved materials from stage to stage in pipes. Work had to be of

2379-445: A gas or a liquid metal (like liquid sodium or lead) or molten salt – is circulated past the reactor core to absorb the heat that it generates. The heat is carried away from the reactor and is then used to generate steam. Most reactor systems employ a cooling system that is physically separated from the water that will be boiled to produce pressurized steam for the turbines , like the pressurized water reactor . However, in some reactors

2562-536: A high-voltage power line connecting Grand Coulee Dam to Bonneville Dam traversed the site. Groves visited it on 16 January 1943, and approved the selection. It was officially designated the Hanford Engineer Works (HEW), and codenamed " Site W ". Matthias had worked with Groves on their previous project, the construction of the Pentagon . Groves intended for Matthias to become his deputy, but on

2745-442: A large fissile atomic nucleus such as uranium-235 , uranium-233 , or plutonium-239 absorbs a neutron, it may undergo nuclear fission. The heavy nucleus splits into two or more lighter nuclei, (the fission products ), releasing kinetic energy , gamma radiation , and free neutrons . A portion of these neutrons may be absorbed by other fissile atoms and trigger further fission events, which release more neutrons, and so on. This

2928-404: A laundry, a bank, a post office and a bus station. There was a hospital, churches, a library, and police and fire stations. Before the Manhattan District arrived, the school had about 65 students. When the fall term commenced on 14 September 1943, it had 560 students and 18 teachers. In the 1943–1944 school year there were 1,891 students and 38 teachers. The school closed on 13 February 1945. There

3111-424: A less effective moderator. In other reactors, the coolant acts as a poison by absorbing neutrons in the same way that the control rods do. In these reactors, power output can be increased by heating the coolant, which makes it a less dense poison. Nuclear reactors generally have automatic and manual systems to scram the reactor in an emergency shut down. These systems insert large amounts of poison (often boron in

3294-491: A marked decline in such accidents. Proponents of nuclear energy note that annually, nuclear-generated electricity reduces 470 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise come from fossil fuels. Additionally, the amount of comparatively low waste that nuclear energy does create is safely disposed of by the large scale nuclear energy production facilities or it is repurposed/recycled for other energy uses. Proponents of nuclear energy also bring to attention

3477-570: A number of ways: A kilogram of uranium-235 (U-235) converted via nuclear processes releases approximately three million times more energy than a kilogram of coal burned conventionally (7.2 × 10 joules per kilogram of uranium-235 versus 2.4 × 10 joules per kilogram of coal). The fission of one kilogram of uranium-235 releases about 19 billion kilocalories , so the energy released by 1 kg of uranium-235 corresponds to that released by burning 2.7 million kg of coal. A nuclear reactor coolant – usually water but sometimes

3660-465: A patent on reactors on 19 December 1944. Its issuance was delayed for 10 years because of wartime secrecy. "World's first nuclear power plant" is the claim made by signs at the site of the EBR-I , which is now a museum near Arco, Idaho . Originally called "Chicago Pile-4", it was carried out under the direction of Walter Zinn for Argonne National Laboratory . This experimental LMFBR operated by

3843-706: A pile (hence the name) of graphite blocks, embedded in which was natural uranium oxide 'pseudospheres' or 'briquettes'. Soon after the Chicago Pile, the Metallurgical Laboratory developed a number of nuclear reactors for the Manhattan Project starting in 1943. The primary purpose for the largest reactors (located at the Hanford Site in Washington ), was the mass production of plutonium for nuclear weapons. Fermi and Szilard applied for

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4026-407: A planned typical lifetime of 30–40 years, though many of those have received renovations and life extensions of 15–20 years. Some believe nuclear power plants can operate for as long as 80 years or longer with proper maintenance and management. While most components of a nuclear power plant, such as steam generators, are replaced when they reach the end of their useful lifetime, the overall lifetime of

4209-585: A random interval. The three forms of radiation that Becquerel and the Curies discovered are also more fully understood. Alpha decay is when a nucleus releases an alpha particle , which is two protons and two neutrons , equivalent to a helium nucleus. Beta decay is the release of a beta particle , a high-energy electron . Gamma decay releases gamma rays , which unlike alpha and beta radiation are not matter but electromagnetic radiation of very high frequency , and therefore energy . This type of radiation

4392-471: A reactor. One such process is delayed neutron emission by a number of neutron-rich fission isotopes. These delayed neutrons account for about 0.65% of the total neutrons produced in fission, with the remainder (termed " prompt neutrons ") released immediately upon fission. The fission products which produce delayed neutrons have half-lives for their decay by neutron emission that range from milliseconds to as long as several minutes, and so considerable time

4575-614: A research project on plutonium by scientists at Columbia University , Princeton University , the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley . Plutonium, a synthetic element only recently produced in laboratories, was theorized to be fissile and therefore usable in an atomic bomb . Metallurgical Laboratory physicists in Chicago designed nuclear reactors ("piles") that could transmute uranium into plutonium, while its chemists investigated ways to separate

4758-529: A set of theoretical nuclear reactor designs. These are generally not expected to be available for commercial use before 2040–2050, although the World Nuclear Association suggested that some might enter commercial operation before 2030. Current reactors in operation around the world are generally considered second- or third-generation systems, with the first-generation systems having been retired some time ago. Research into these reactor types

4941-490: A shopping center, but only two food stores, each with 10,000 square feet (930 m) of retail space. As the town grew in size, Pehrson was able to convince Groves to allow more shops, but in each case he had to provide data demonstrating that the establishment in question was appropriate for a village the size of Richland. The resulting compromise would handicap Richland for many years with inadequate sidewalks, stores and shops, no civic center, and roads that were too narrow. It

5124-479: A stock yard, a combined grade and high school, and a church. Since DuPont and the Metallurgical Laboratory had yet to make much progress on the design of the reactors or the processing plants, it was not known how many construction workers would be required to build them. Town planning proceeded on the assumption that construction would require 25,000 to 28,000 workers, half of whom would live in

5307-656: A test that eliminated 80 percent of applicants. Defective welds could not be tolerated, for once the reactors became operational, their 50,000 feet (15,000 m) of welding joints became inaccessible. The construction workforce reached a peak of 45,096 on 21 June 1944. About 13 percent were women, and 16.45 percent were non-white. African-Americans lived in segregated quarters, had their own messes and recreation areas, and were paid less than white workers. Although DuPont agreed to hire some as construction workers, it had no intention of hiring them as operating personnel. These workers were all white and most were Protestant. Not all

5490-403: A village of 6,500 people, expandable up to 7,500, based on the assumption that 30 to 40 percent of the operating employees would live in the surrounding communities. The inability of those communities to absorb the numbers soon became apparent, and in September 1943 the size of Richland was set at 16,000. DuPont put the contract for building the village out to tender, and the contract was awarded to

5673-492: A wartime peak population of 17,000. The HEW erected 554 buildings, including three graphite - moderated and water-cooled reactors (B, D and F) that operated at 250 megawatts. Natural uranium sealed in aluminum cans (known as "slugs") was fed into them. B Reactor went critical in September 1944 and, after overcoming neutron poisoning , produced its first plutonium in November. Irradiated slugs were processed in two huge, remotely operated chemical separation plants (T and B) where

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5856-532: A weapon must hold one or more subcritical fissile masses stable for deployment, then induce criticality (create a critical mass) for detonation. It also is quite difficult to ensure that such a chain reaction consumes a significant fraction of the fuel before the device flies apart. The procurement of a nuclear fuel is also more difficult than it might seem, since sufficiently unstable substances for this process do not currently occur naturally on Earth in suitable amounts. One isotope of uranium , namely uranium-235,

6039-559: A weapon which utilized fission reactions to generate far more energy than could be created with chemical explosives. The Manhattan Project , run by the United States with the help of the United Kingdom and Canada , developed multiple fission weapons which were used against Japan in 1945 at Hiroshima and Nagasaki . During the project, the first fission reactors were developed as well, though they were primarily for weapons manufacture and did not generate electricity. In 1951,

6222-401: Is a more general term of deliberate exposure of materials to radiation to achieve a technical goal (in this context 'ionizing radiation' is implied). As such it is also used on non-food items, such as medical hardware, plastics, tubes for gas-pipelines, hoses for floor-heating, shrink-foils for food packaging , automobile parts, wires and cables (isolation), tires, and even gemstones. Compared to

6405-512: Is a type of nuclear weapon designed to distribute hazardous nuclear material in enemy areas. Such a weapon would not have the explosive capability of a fission or fusion bomb, but would kill many people and contaminate a large area. A radiological weapon has never been deployed. While considered useless by a conventional military, such a weapon raises concerns over nuclear terrorism . There have been over 2,000 nuclear tests conducted since 1945. In 1963, all nuclear and many non-nuclear states signed

6588-405: Is also used to treat diseases in radiation therapy . Since some ionizing radiation can penetrate matter, they are used for a variety of measuring methods. X-rays and gamma rays are used in industrial radiography to make images of the inside of solid products, as a means of nondestructive testing and inspection. The piece to be radiographed is placed between the source and a photographic film in

6771-423: Is because atomic nuclei are generally kept apart because they contain positive electrical charges and therefore repel each other. In 1896, Henri Becquerel was investigating phosphorescence in uranium salts when he discovered a new phenomenon which came to be called radioactivity . He, Pierre Curie and Marie Curie began investigating the phenomenon. In the process, they isolated the element radium , which

6954-469: Is difficult to achieve in a controlled fashion. Hydrogen bombs obtain their enormous destructive power from fusion, but their energy cannot be controlled. Controlled fusion is achieved in particle accelerators ; this is how many synthetic elements are produced. A fusor can also produce controlled fusion and is a useful neutron source . However, both of these devices operate at a net energy loss. Controlled, viable fusion power has proven elusive, despite

7137-536: Is essentially a non-nuclear technology; it relies on the use of ionizing radiation which may be generated by accelerators for electrons and conversion into bremsstrahlung, but which may use also gamma-rays from nuclear decay. There is a worldwide industry for processing by ionizing radiation, the majority by number and by processing power using accelerators. Food irradiation is only a niche application compared to medical supplies, plastic materials, raw materials, gemstones, cables and wires, etc. Nuclear accidents, because of

7320-810: Is for the construction of a plant to make a terrific explosion for a secret weapon that will be a wonder." In December, an investigator from the Truman Committee once again attempted to probe the Hanford project because of "various rumors" that another Senator had sent to Truman, and March 1944, the Committee again needed reassurance that the project was secret and could not be audited. Between March and October 1943, settlements averaged 108 per month. The first condemnation trial began on 7 October. Trial juries were largely drawn from Yakima , where land productivity and prices were much higher, and they distrusted

7503-475: Is highly radioactive. They discovered that radioactive materials produce intense, penetrating rays of three distinct sorts, which they labeled alpha, beta, and gamma after the first three Greek letters . Some of these kinds of radiation could pass through ordinary matter, and all of them could be harmful in large amounts. All of the early researchers received various radiation burns , much like sunburn , and thought little of it. The new phenomenon of radioactivity

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7686-413: Is inserted deeper into the reactor, it absorbs more neutrons than the material it displaces – often the moderator. This action results in fewer neutrons available to cause fission and reduces the reactor's power output. Conversely, extracting the control rod will result in an increase in the rate of fission events and an increase in power. The physics of radioactive decay also affects neutron populations in

7869-428: Is known as a nuclear chain reaction . To control such a nuclear chain reaction, control rods containing neutron poisons and neutron moderators are able to change the portion of neutrons that will go on to cause more fission. Nuclear reactors generally have automatic and manual systems to shut the fission reaction down if monitoring or instrumentation detects unsafe conditions. The reactor core generates heat in

8052-405: Is mined, processed, enriched, used, possibly reprocessed and disposed of is known as the nuclear fuel cycle . Under 1% of the uranium found in nature is the easily fissionable U-235 isotope and as a result most reactor designs require enriched fuel. Enrichment involves increasing the percentage of U-235 and is usually done by means of gaseous diffusion or gas centrifuge . The enriched result

8235-399: Is naturally occurring and sufficiently unstable, but it is always found mixed with the more stable isotope uranium-238. The latter accounts for more than 99% of the weight of natural uranium. Therefore, some method of isotope separation based on the weight of three neutrons must be performed to enrich (isolate) uranium-235. Alternatively, the element plutonium possesses an isotope that

8418-429: Is not the only deadly component to a nuclear weapon. Approximately half of the deaths from Hiroshima and Nagasaki died two to five years afterward from radiation exposure. Civilian nuclear and radiological accidents primarily involve nuclear power plants. Most common are nuclear leaks that expose workers to hazardous material. A nuclear meltdown refers to the more serious hazard of releasing nuclear material into

8601-441: Is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction which creates heat—and which is used to boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine. The turbine is used to generate electricity and/or to do mechanical work. Currently nuclear power provides approximately 15.7% of the world's electricity (in 2004) and is used to propel aircraft carriers , icebreakers and submarines (so far economics and fears in some ports have prevented

8784-401: Is produced. Fission also produces iodine-135 , which in turn decays (with a half-life of 6.57 hours) to new xenon-135. When the reactor is shut down, iodine-135 continues to decay to xenon-135, making restarting the reactor more difficult for a day or two, as the xenon-135 decays into cesium-135, which is not nearly as poisonous as xenon-135, with a half-life of 9.2 hours. This temporary state is

8967-448: Is reaching or crossing their design lifetimes of 30 or 40 years. In 2014, Greenpeace warned that the lifetime extension of ageing nuclear power plants amounts to entering a new era of risk. It estimated the current European nuclear liability coverage in average to be too low by a factor of between 100 and 1,000 to cover the likely costs, while at the same time, the likelihood of a serious accident happening in Europe continues to increase as

9150-423: Is referred to as k . Values of k larger than 1 mean that the fission reaction is releasing more neutrons than it absorbs, and therefore is referred to as a self-sustaining chain reaction. A mass of fissile material large enough (and in a suitable configuration) to induce a self-sustaining chain reaction is called a critical mass . When a neutron is captured by a suitable nucleus, fission may occur immediately, or

9333-416: Is required to determine exactly when a reactor reaches the critical point. Keeping the reactor in the zone of chain reactivity where delayed neutrons are necessary to achieve a critical mass state allows mechanical devices or human operators to control a chain reaction in "real time"; otherwise the time between achievement of criticality and nuclear meltdown as a result of an exponential power surge from

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9516-439: Is sufficiently unstable for this process to be usable. Terrestrial plutonium does not currently occur naturally in sufficient quantities for such use, so it must be manufactured in a nuclear reactor . Ultimately, the Manhattan Project manufactured nuclear weapons based on each of these elements. They detonated the first nuclear weapon in a test code-named " Trinity ", near Alamogordo , New Mexico , on July 16, 1945. The test

9699-439: Is the sterile insect technique , where male insects are sterilized by radiation and released, so they have no offspring, to reduce the population. In industrial and food applications, radiation is used for sterilization of tools and equipment. An advantage is that the object may be sealed in plastic before sterilization. An emerging use in food production is the sterilization of food using food irradiation . Food irradiation

9882-406: Is the fact, that the energy density per atomic transition is very high, it can cleave molecules and induce ionization (hence the name) which cannot be achieved by mere heating. This is the reason for new beneficial effects, however at the same time, for new concerns. The treatment of solid food by ionizing radiation can provide an effect similar to heat pasteurization of liquids, such as milk. However,

10065-447: Is the largest artificial source of radiation exposure for humans. Medical and dental x-ray imagers use of cobalt-60 or other x-ray sources. A number of radiopharmaceuticals are used, sometimes attached to organic molecules, to act as radioactive tracers or contrast agents in the human body. Positron emitting nucleotides are used for high resolution, short time span imaging in applications known as Positron emission tomography . Radiation

10248-523: Is the most dangerous and most difficult to block. All three types of radiation occur naturally in certain elements . It has also become clear that the ultimate source of most terrestrial energy is nuclear, either through radiation from the Sun caused by stellar thermonuclear reactions or by radioactive decay of uranium within the Earth, the principal source of geothermal energy . In natural nuclear radiation,

10431-413: Is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation in order to destroy microorganisms , bacteria , viruses , or insects that might be present in the food. The radiation sources used include radioisotope gamma ray sources, X-ray generators and electron accelerators. Further applications include sprout inhibition, delay of ripening, increase of juice yield, and improvement of re-hydration. Irradiation

10614-568: The Chief of Staff of the United States Army George C. Marshall . Mindful of having been denounced as a merchant of death after World War I, DuPont initially refused payment, but for legal reasons a cost-plus contract was agreed upon, with the fee of one dollar. At Carpenter's request, OSRD Director Vannevar Bush had Roosevelt initial a letter noting that the government assumed all responsibility for all hazards involved in

10797-639: The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996 (which had as of 2011 not entered into force), all of these states have pledged to discontinue all nuclear testing. Non-signatories India and Pakistan last tested nuclear weapons in 1998. Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons known - the archetypal weapons of mass destruction . Throughout the Cold War , the opposing powers had huge nuclear arsenals, sufficient to kill hundreds of millions of people. Generations of people grew up under

10980-547: The Fat Man bomb used in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in August 1945. The plant continued producing plutonium for nuclear weapons until 1971. The HEW was commanded by Colonel Franklin T. Matthias until January 1946, and then by Colonel Frederick J. Clarke . The director of the Manhattan Project, Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves Jr. , engaged DuPont as the prime contractor for the design, construction and operation of

11163-673: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, who cited safety issues. Matthias arranged for the prefabricated houses to be delivered by rail, which cost more. He negotiated a settlement with the union in April 1944, but the Office of Defense Transportation and the Interstate Commerce Commission were another matter, and Prefabricated Engineering was forced to hire a more expensive local firm. By

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11346-718: The Limited Test Ban Treaty , pledging to refrain from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space . The treaty permitted underground nuclear testing . France continued atmospheric testing until 1974, while China continued up until 1980. The last underground test by the United States was in 1992, the Soviet Union in 1990, the United Kingdom in 1991, and both France and China continued testing until 1996. After signing

11529-432: The Manhattan Project . Eventually, the first artificial nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1 , was constructed at the University of Chicago , by a team led by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, in late 1942. By this time, the program had been pressured for a year by U.S. entry into the war. The Chicago Pile achieved criticality on 2 December 1942 at 3:25 PM. The reactor support structure was made of wood, which supported

11712-517: The PWR , BWR and PHWR designs above, and some are more radical departures. The former include the advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR), two of which are now operating with others under construction, and the planned passively safe Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) and AP1000 units (see Nuclear Power 2010 Program ). Rolls-Royce aims to sell nuclear reactors for the production of synfuel for aircraft. Generation IV reactors are

11895-710: The Pit River in California; Blythe, California ; and Needles, California (the last two being on the Colorado River ). On 1 January 1943, Matthias called Groves from Portland, Oregon , and reported that the Hanford Site was "far more favorable in virtually all respects than any other". The survey party noted an abundance of aggregate , which could be used to make concrete, and that the ground appeared firm enough to support massive structures. They noted that

12078-560: The Selective Service System , and not required to serve because they did not meet the Army's minimum standards. The Manhattan District also arranged with local draft boards for exemptions for key personnel. The Selective Service Section of the area engineer's office handled 14,701 requests for exemption and 50 percent were approved. These were forwarded to the draft board with a letter signed by Matthias. Recruiting workers

12261-524: The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission produced 0.8 kW in a test on 20 December 1951 and 100 kW (electrical) the following day, having a design output of 200 kW (electrical). Besides the military uses of nuclear reactors, there were political reasons to pursue civilian use of atomic energy. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower made his famous Atoms for Peace speech to the UN General Assembly on 8 December 1953. This diplomacy led to

12444-569: The United Kingdom and SL-1 in the United States. Military accidents usually involve the loss or unexpected detonation of nuclear weapons. The Castle Bravo test in 1954 produced a larger yield than expected, which contaminated nearby islands, a Japanese fishing boat (with one fatality), and raised concerns about contaminated fish in Japan. In the 1950s through 1970s, several nuclear bombs were lost from submarines and aircraft, some of which have never been recovered. The last twenty years have seen

12627-802: The Yakima Nation , the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation , and the Nez Perce Tribe. Native Americans were accustomed to fishing in the Columbia River near White Bluffs for two or three weeks in October. The fish they caught was dried and provided food for the winter. A deal was struck with Wanapum Chief Johnny Buck allowing Buck and his two assistants to issue passes to fish at

12810-477: The coolant also acts as a neutron moderator . A moderator increases the power of the reactor by causing the fast neutrons that are released from fission to lose energy and become thermal neutrons. Thermal neutrons are more likely than fast neutrons to cause fission. If the coolant is a moderator, then temperature changes can affect the density of the coolant/moderator and therefore change power output. A higher temperature coolant would be less dense, and therefore

12993-402: The "iodine pit." If the reactor has sufficient extra reactivity capacity, it can be restarted. As the extra xenon-135 is transmuted to xenon-136, which is much less a neutron poison, within a few hours the reactor experiences a "xenon burnoff (power) transient". Control rods must be further inserted to replace the neutron absorption of the lost xenon-135. Failure to properly follow such a procedure

13176-500: The 1,532 operating personnel had worked for DuPont before, but most came from DuPont ordnance plants in Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee and Utah, where production had been scaled back or halted during 1943. Some were given special training at Oak Ridge or the Metallurgical Laboratory. More than half were over the maximum draft age of 38, and three-quarters of the 3,705 men aged 18 to 26 in the construction workforce were classified as 4-F by

13359-580: The 1986 Chernobyl disaster and 2011 Fukushima disaster . As of 2022 , the International Atomic Energy Agency reported there are 422 nuclear power reactors and 223 nuclear research reactors in operation around the world. The US Department of Energy classes reactors into generations, with the majority of the global fleet being Generation II reactors constructed from the 1960s to 1990s, and Generation IV reactors currently in development. Reactors can also be grouped by

13542-407: The Army to work on the project. Stimson specified that they be limited-service personnel not qualified for overseas service. They were transferred to the reserves and taken on by the piping subcontractor as civilians. The first of them arrived at the Hanford Engineer Works on 1 September 1944. After an accident in which seven workers died when a tank being moved into position was dropped from a crane,

13725-559: The Federal Land Bank appraisers. Under the usual procedure in Washington state, they visited the tracts under adjudication, and the sight of workers with DuPont identification badges generated rumors that the project had no military value and the government was using eminent domain for the benefit of private enterprise. The juries were sympathetic to the claims of the landowners and the payments awarded were well in excess of

13908-742: The HEW, the Clinton Engineer Works, and other production sites), Arthur H. Compton (the director of the Metallurgical Laboratory) and Norman Hilberry (Compton's deputy) met with DuPont's executive committee at the company headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware . Groves assured DuPont's president, Walter S. Carpenter Jr. , that the Manhattan Project was considered of the greatest importance by President Franklin Roosevelt , Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson , and

14091-555: The HEW. DuPont recommended that it be located far from densely populated areas, and a site on the Columbia River , codenamed Site W, was chosen. The federal government acquired the land under its war powers authority and relocated some 1,500 nearby residents. The acquisition was one of the largest in US history. Disputes arose with farmers over the value of the land and compensation for crops that had already been planted. The acquisition

14274-450: The Hanford construction camp up to 31 December 1946 was $ 37,589,302 (equivalent to $ 448,000,000 in 2023). Richland was chosen as the site for the operating village. The project engineers also considered Benton City, Washington . It was more suitable, but was not part of the area initially acquired, and for security reasons it was desirable to have the operating village inside the restricted area. The Manhattan District could have acquired

14457-545: The Justice Department, for additional flexibility in making adjustments to valuations to facilitate out of court settlement, and for the establishment of a second court with additional judges. Air conditioning was installed in the courtroom in Yakima to permit cases to be heard during the summer months. Littell became convinced that the root of the problem was faulty appraisals, and on 13 October 1944, he appeared at

14640-549: The Lands Division, and Biddle asked for Littell's resignation. When this was not forthcoming, he had Roosevelt remove Littell from office on 26 November. When the Manhattan Project ended on 31 December 1946, there were still 237 tracts remaining to be settled. In all, $ 5,148,462 (equivalent to $ 61,000,000 in 2023) was spent on land acquisition. Also affected were the Wanapum people, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of

14823-558: The Metallurgical Laboratory team led by Enrico Fermi started up Chicago Pile-1 , the first nuclear reactor) a survey party consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Franklin T. Matthias and DuPont engineers A. E. S. Hall and Gilbert P. Church inspected several alternative sites. They looked at sites near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho ; Hanford, Washington ; Mansfield, Washington ; the Deschutes River and John Day River Valleys in Oregon ;

15006-518: The Pacific Huts company in Seattle. Erected between 27 February and 15 July 1944, they held 7,120 white men and 2,714 black men. 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, with 3,639 lots, of which all but 45 were occupied during

15189-685: The U.S. military sought other uses for nuclear reactor technology. Research by the Army led to the power stations for Camp Century, Greenland and McMurdo Station, Antarctica Army Nuclear Power Program . The Air Force Nuclear Bomber project resulted in the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment . The U.S. Navy succeeded when they steamed the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) on nuclear power 17 January 1955. The first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall in Sellafield , England

15372-478: The United States , but DuPont had its way, and the best houses were built on the most desirable lots along the river front. The population of Richland increased spectacularly once operating personnel began arriving in January 1944, reaching a peak of 17,000 in the middle of the year when construction and startup overlapped. It then declined to 15,000 by the end of the year as the construction workers departed. Before

15555-472: The United States does not engage in or encourage reprocessing. Reactors are also used in nuclear propulsion of vehicles. Nuclear marine propulsion of ships and submarines is largely restricted to naval use. Reactors have also been tested for nuclear aircraft propulsion and spacecraft propulsion . Reactor safety is maintained through various systems that control the rate of fission. The insertion of control rods, which absorb neutrons, can rapidly decrease

15738-612: The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Nuclear reactor Nuclear reactors have their origins in the World War II Allied Manhattan Project . The world's first artificial nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, achieved criticality on 2 December 1942. Early reactor designs sought to produce weapons-grade plutonium for fission bombs , later incorporating grid electricity production in addition. In 1957, Shippingport Atomic Power Station became

15921-553: The Wanapum were allowed access to mark the cemeteries. In 1997, tribal elders were permitted to bring children and young adults onto the site once a year to learn about their sacred sites . Matthias and Church met in Wilmington on 2 March 1943, and drew up an outline of the layout of the Hanford Engineer Works. Normally in an isolated area, employees would be accommodated on site, but in this case for security and safety reasons it

16104-528: The White Bluffs Cemetery, and moved them to Prosser, on the other side of Rattlesnake Mountain . The land was divided into five areas. Area A, at the center of the site, was the location of the project facilities; it was acquired outright, and for safety and security reasons all non-project personnel would be removed. Surrounding Area A was a safety zone, Area B; this land was leased, with its occupants subject to eviction at short notice. Area C

16287-403: The acquisition Richland had an elementary school for 320 students and a high school for 100 students. An additional 16-room elementary school was authorized on 16 March 1943, then a third, and a fourth. The original high school was used in the 1943–1944 school year, but was found to be too small. A new one was authorized in July 1943, and an extension to it in 1944. The four elementary schools and

16470-543: The acquisition but the Truman Committee began making inquiries. On 15 June, it sent letters to Carpenter and Julius H. Amberg, Stimson's special assistant, seeking an explanation for the choice of the location, the estimated cost of the project, and the need for the acquisition of so much land. At a cabinet meeting on 17 June, Roosevelt asked Stimson whether the Manhattan Project would consider moving plutonium production elsewhere. Groves reassured Stimson that there

16653-615: The acquisition of the land on 8 February 1943. A Manhattan District project office opened in Prosser, Washington , on 22 February. 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 10 March. Notices went out in March to residents of White Bluffs , Hanford and Richland, about 1,500 people in all. The army dug up 177 graves at

16836-600: The advice of the chief engineer of the Manhattan District, Colonel James C. Marshall , Matthias became the Hanford Site area engineer. Gilbert Church became the field project manager of DuPont's construction team. Part of the reason for sending them together on the survey party was to verify that they were compatible as coworkers. As area engineer, Matthias had an unusual degree of autonomy. Hanford's isolated location meant that communications were limited, so day-to-day reporting back to Manhattan District headquarters in Oak Ridge

17019-454: The airport to handle Air Transport Command aircraft carrying air express shipments. The airport's buildings consisted of two hangars and a hutment, and there were electrical fuel pumps. With the completion of construction in February 1945, the camp population rapidly decreased in size. Administrative and service offices were relocated to Richland . For security and safety reasons, it was desirable to have non-operating personnel located outside

17202-544: The amount of food irradiated, the volume of those every-day applications is huge but not noticed by the consumer. The genuine effect of processing food by ionizing radiation relates to damages to the DNA , the basic genetic information for life. Microorganisms can no longer proliferate and continue their malignant or pathogenic activities. Spoilage causing micro-organisms cannot continue their activities. Insects do not survive or become incapable of procreation. Plants cannot continue

17385-468: The appraisals. From October 1943 until April 1944, the rate of settlements dropped to an average of seven per month. Groves became concerned that public attention generated by the trials and the inspection of tracts by juries where construction was now commencing might jeopardize project security. He arranged with Norman M. Littell, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Lands Division at

17568-459: The area but given the opposition to the land acquisition already in progress, they decided to use Richland, which was already being acquired. Richland lay about 25 miles (40 km) from the reactor sites. The village had a population of about 250, but was surrounded by small farms, so the 2,500-acre (1,000 ha) site had a population of about 600. The citizens of Richland were given until 15 November 1943 to vacate their homes. The plan called for

17751-569: The area was contaminated, like Fukushima, Three Mile Island, Sellafield, and Chernobyl. The British branch of the French concern EDF Energy , for example, extended the operating lives of its Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AGR) with only between 3 and 10 years. All seven AGR plants were expected to be shut down in 2022 and in decommissioning by 2028. Hinkley Point B was extended from 40 to 46 years, and closed. The same happened with Hunterston B , also after 46 years. An increasing number of reactors

17934-740: The beginning of his quest to produce the Einstein-Szilárd letter to alert the U.S. government. Shortly after, Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, starting World War II in Europe. The U.S. was not yet officially at war, but in October, when the Einstein-Szilárd letter was delivered to him, Roosevelt commented that the purpose of doing the research was to make sure "the Nazis don't blow us up." The U.S. nuclear project followed, although with some delay as there remained skepticism (some of it from Enrico Fermi ) and also little action from

18117-418: The building sites. Construction was expedited by locating the construction camp and the operating village on the sites of existing villages, where they could take advantage of the buildings, roads and utility infrastructure already in place. The engineers decided to locate the temporary construction camp on the site of the village of Hanford, which had a population of about 125. It was 6 miles (9.7 km) from

18300-416: The byproducts are very small compared to the nuclei from which they originate. Nuclear fission is the process of splitting a nucleus into roughly equal parts, and releasing energy and neutrons in the process. If these neutrons are captured by another unstable nucleus, they can fission as well, leading to a chain reaction . The average number of neutrons released per nucleus that go on to fission another nucleus

18483-435: The camp, but DuPont designed the camp to permit expansion. This proved to be wise; nearly twice that number of workers would ultimately be required, and the capacity of surrounding communities to absorb workers was limited. Three types of accommodation were provided in the camp: barracks, hutments and trailer parking. The first workers to arrive lived in 125 US Army pyramidal tents with wooden floors and sides while they erected

18666-458: The choices of coolant and moderator. Almost 90% of global nuclear energy comes from pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors , which use water as a coolant and moderator. Other designs include heavy water reactors , gas-cooled reactors , and fast breeder reactors , variously optimizing efficiency, safety, and fuel type , enrichment , and burnup . Small modular reactors are also an area of current development. These reactors play

18849-467: The complexities of handling actinides , but significant scientific and technical obstacles remain. Despite research having started in the 1950s, no commercial fusion reactor is expected before 2050. The ITER project is currently leading the effort to harness fusion power. Thermal reactors generally depend on refined and enriched uranium . Some nuclear reactors can operate with a mixture of plutonium and uranium (see MOX ). The process by which uranium ore

19032-414: The court in Yakima and asked Schwellenbach to put all condemnation trials on hold until the Justice Department could carry out reappraisals of more than 700 tracts still awaiting settlement. The Under Secretary of War , Robert P. Patterson sent a strongly worded letter to Attorney General Francis Biddle . This brought to a head a long-standing dispute between Biddle and Littell over the administration of

19215-567: The dissemination of reactor technology to U.S. institutions and worldwide. The first nuclear power plant built for civil purposes was the AM-1 Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant , launched on 27 June 1954 in the Soviet Union . It produced around 5 MW (electrical). It was built after the F-1 (nuclear reactor) which was the first reactor to go critical in Europe, and was also built by the Soviet Union. After World War II,

19398-465: The end of the production line. The source ionizes the air to remove electric charges on the material. Radioactive tracers - Since radioactive isotopes behave, chemically, mostly like the inactive element, the behavior of a certain chemical substance can be followed by tracing the radioactivity. Examples: Oil and Gas Exploration - Nuclear well logging is used to help predict the commercial viability of new or existing wells. The technology involves

19581-494: The energy of the neutrons that sustain the fission chain reaction : In principle, fusion power could be produced by nuclear fusion of elements such as the deuterium isotope of hydrogen . While an ongoing rich research topic since at least the 1940s, no self-sustaining fusion reactor for any purpose has ever been built. Used by thermal reactors: In 2003, the French Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA)

19764-405: The entire project seemed beyond human capability." On 4 November, DuPont chemists and engineers – including Stine, Elmer Bolton , Roger Williams, Thomas H. Chilton and Crawford Greenewalt  – visited the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago. On 10 November, Groves, Colonel Kenneth Nichols (the deputy chief engineer of the Manhattan District who was responsible for

19947-429: The first barracks. Two types of barracks were erected: two-wing barracks for women and four-wing for men. White and non-white people had separate barracks. Construction commenced on 6 April 1943 and eventually 195 were erected, the last of which were completed on 27 May 1944. There were 110 for white men, 21 for black men, 57 for white women and 7 for black women. Not all were used for accommodation, and one white-women wing

20130-695: The first nuclear fission power plant was the first to produce electricity at the Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-1), in Arco, Idaho, ushering in the "Atomic Age" of more intensive human energy use. However, if the mass is critical only when the delayed neutrons are included, then the reaction can be controlled, for example by the introduction or removal of neutron absorbers . This is what allows nuclear reactors to be built. Fast neutrons are not easily captured by nuclei; they must be slowed (slow neutrons), generally by collision with

20313-642: The first reactor dedicated to peaceful use; in Russia, in 1954, the first small nuclear power reactor APS-1 OBNINSK reached criticality. Other countries followed suit. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid coolant (water or gas), which in turn runs through turbines . In commercial reactors, turbines drive electrical generator shafts. The heat can also be used for district heating , and industrial applications including desalination and hydrogen production . Some reactors are used to produce isotopes for medical and industrial use. Reactors pose

20496-407: The fission process generates heat, some of which can be converted into usable energy. A common method of harnessing this thermal energy is to use it to boil water to produce pressurized steam which will then drive a steam turbine that turns an alternator and generates electricity. Modern nuclear power plants are typically designed for a lifetime of 60 years, while older reactors were built with

20679-529: The form of boric acid ) into the reactor to shut the fission reaction down if unsafe conditions are detected or anticipated. Most types of reactors are sensitive to a process variously known as xenon poisoning, or the iodine pit . The common fission product Xenon-135 produced in the fission process acts as a neutron poison that absorbs neutrons and therefore tends to shut the reactor down. Xenon-135 accumulation can be controlled by keeping power levels high enough to destroy it by neutron absorption as fast as it

20862-424: The fuel rods. This allows the reactor to be constructed with an excess of fissionable material, which is nevertheless made relatively safe early in the reactor's fuel burn cycle by the presence of the neutron-absorbing material which is later replaced by normally produced long-lived neutron poisons (far longer-lived than xenon-135) which gradually accumulate over the fuel load's operating life. The energy released in

21045-476: The high school had facilities for 1,900 students. Electricity was drawn from the Pacific Power and Light Company's 66-kilovolt line. Two 5,000-kilowatt substations and one 10,000-kilowatt substation were built. The central portion of Richland had streetlights but in the outlying parts lighting was provided only at intersections. The streets were paved with asphalt -bound macadam . A sewage treatment plant

21228-625: The highest quality, because once radioactive substances were introduced, it would be too dangerous to repair the pipes. Arrangements were made with the International Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters that if any chapter could make twenty or more pipefitters available for the Hanford Engineer Works, the Air Transport Command would fly them in from their home state. In August 1944 the Manhattan District arranged for 198 skilled pipefitters to be furloughed from

21411-447: The idea of nuclear fission as a neutron source, since that process was not yet discovered. Szilárd's ideas for nuclear reactors using neutron-mediated nuclear chain reactions in light elements proved unworkable. Inspiration for a new type of reactor using uranium came from the discovery by Otto Hahn , Lise Meitner , and Fritz Strassmann in 1938 that bombardment of uranium with neutrons (provided by an alpha-on-beryllium fusion reaction,

21594-630: The largest land acquisition projects in American history. Some 88 percent of this land was sagebrush , where eighteen to twenty thousand sheep grazed. Almost all the rest was farmland, although not all was under cultivation. Farmers felt that they should be compensated for the value of crops under cultivation as well as their land. Most of the appraisers from the Federal Land Bank were based in Seattle or Portland, and were unfamiliar with

21777-526: The light elements ( lithium to calcium ) as well as some of the heavy elements (beyond iron and nickel , via the S-process ). The remaining abundance of heavy elements, from nickel to uranium and beyond, is due to supernova nucleosynthesis , the R-process . Of course, these natural processes of astrophysics are not examples of nuclear "technology". Because of the very strong repulsion of nuclei, fusion

21960-568: The lowest bidder, G. Albin Pehrson , on 16 March 1943. Pehrson opened an office at Pasco High School . He produced a series of standard house designs based on the Cape Cod and ranch-style house design fashions of the day. While the Hanford construction camp had a grid layout, the residential areas of Richland had curved streets and cul-de-sacs. Existing shade and fruit trees were retained where possible. Unlike Oak Ridge and Los Alamos , Richland

22143-440: The natural ripening or aging process. All these effects are beneficial to the consumer and the food industry, likewise. The amount of energy imparted for effective food irradiation is low compared to cooking the same; even at a typical dose of 10 kGy most food, which is (with regard to warming) physically equivalent to water, would warm by only about 2.5 °C (4.5 °F). The specialty of processing food by ionizing radiation

22326-654: The nearest process area site, which was considered to be sufficiently distant at startup. It was served by the Connell–Yakima state highway , the Pasco – White Bluffs road, and a branch line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad . Electricity was available from the Pacific Power and Light Company substation, and water from local wells. Community facilities included stores, two fruit-packing warehouses,

22509-449: The normal nuclear chain reaction, would be too short to allow for intervention. This last stage, where delayed neutrons are no longer required to maintain criticality, is known as the prompt critical point. There is a scale for describing criticality in numerical form, in which bare criticality is known as zero dollars and the prompt critical point is one dollar , and other points in the process interpolated in cents. In some reactors,

22692-564: The nuclei of a neutron moderator , before they can be easily captured. Today, this type of fission is commonly used to generate electricity. If nuclei are forced to collide, they can undergo nuclear fusion . This process may release or absorb energy. When the resulting nucleus is lighter than that of iron , energy is normally released; when the nucleus is heavier than that of iron, energy is generally absorbed. This process of fusion occurs in stars , which derive their energy from hydrogen and helium . They form, through stellar nucleosynthesis ,

22875-434: The nucleus may persist in an unstable state for a short time. If there are enough immediate decays to carry on the chain reaction, the mass is said to be prompt critical , and the energy release will grow rapidly and uncontrollably, usually leading to an explosion. When discovered on the eve of World War II , this insight led multiple countries to begin programs investigating the possibility of constructing an atomic bomb —

23058-452: The occasional hoax . Technical and theoretical difficulties have hindered the development of working civilian fusion technology, though research continues to this day around the world. Nuclear fusion was initially pursued only in theoretical stages during World War II, when scientists on the Manhattan Project (led by Edward Teller ) investigated it as a method to build a bomb. The project abandoned fusion after concluding that it would require

23241-556: The opportunity cost of utilizing other forms of electricity. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that coal kills 30,000 people a year, as a result of its environmental impact, while 60 people died in the Chernobyl disaster. A real world example of impact provided by proponents of nuclear energy is the 650,000 ton increase in carbon emissions in the two months following the closure of

23424-581: The opportunity for the nuclear chain reaction that Szilárd had envisioned six years previously. On 2 August 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (written by Szilárd) suggesting that the discovery of uranium's fission could lead to the development of "extremely powerful bombs of a new type", giving impetus to the study of reactors and fission. Szilárd and Einstein knew each other well and had worked together years previously, but Einstein had never thought about this possibility for nuclear energy until Szilard reported it to him, at

23607-487: The original dwellings, known as tract houses, were still in use. Some 1,800 prefabricated houses were added to the plan. The company responsible for their manufacture, Prefabricated Engineering, did not have the equipment to transport them to Richland from its plant in Toledo, Oregon , so it hired a Chicago-based firm to do this. The subcontractor ran afoul of wartime regulations requiring the company to hire local drivers, and

23790-511: The other 14,855 man-hours lost were due to jurisdictional disputes. Nuclear technology Nuclear technology is technology that involves the nuclear reactions of atomic nuclei . Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear reactors , nuclear medicine and nuclear weapons . It is also used, among other things, in smoke detectors and gun sights . The vast majority of common, natural phenomena on Earth only involve gravity and electromagnetism , and not nuclear reactions. This

23973-578: The peak of construction work, and 12,008 people were living in them. In addition to accommodation, the Hanford camp contained other buildings and facilities. Mess halls and recreation halls were operated by the Olympic Commissary Company under subcontract to DuPont. The original grocery and clothing stores remained in operation, and DuPont leased other stores, the number of which gradually expanded over time, to private operators. The Hanford camp contained two garages and service stations,

24156-406: The physics of radioactive decay and are simply accounted for during the reactor's operation, while others are mechanisms engineered into the reactor design for a distinct purpose. The fastest method for adjusting levels of fission-inducing neutrons in a reactor is via movement of the control rods . Control rods are made of so-called neutron poisons and therefore absorb neutrons. When a control rod

24339-653: The plutonium from untransmuted uranium and fission products . Approximately four tonnes of uranium was required to produce one kilogram of plutonium. The plutonium program became known as the X-10 project. On 23 September 1942, Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves Jr. became the director of the Manhattan Project . Stone & Webster had been engaged to carry out the construction of the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee , but Groves considered

24522-579: The plutonium production complex. This had the added benefit of not requiring the Manhattan District (the military component of the Manhattan Project) to coordinate the work of contractors on the project, thereby reducing Groves's workload. Groves briefed DuPont vice president Willis F. Harrington and chemist Charles Stine on the Manhattan Project on 31 October. They both protested that the company "had no experience or knowledge of physics and that they were incompetent to render any opinion except that

24705-481: The plutonium was extracted using the bismuth-phosphate process . Radioactive wastes were stored in underground tanks. The first batch of plutonium was processed in the T plant between December 1944 and February 1945 and delivered to the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory . The identical D and F reactors came online in December 1944 and February 1945, respectively. The HEW suffered an outage on 10 March 1945 when

24888-415: The power plant is limited by the life of components that cannot be replaced when aged by wear and neutron embrittlement , such as the reactor pressure vessel. At the end of their planned life span, plants may get an extension of the operating license for some 20 years and in the US even a "subsequent license renewal" (SLR) for an additional 20 years. Even when a license is extended, it does not guarantee

25071-433: The powerful forces involved, are often very dangerous. Historically, the first incidents involved fatal radiation exposure . Marie Curie died from aplastic anemia which resulted from her high levels of exposure. Two scientists, an American and Canadian respectively, Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin , died after mishandling the same plutonium mass . Unlike conventional weapons, the intense light, heat, and explosive force

25254-548: The project. It had originally been intended that the reactors be built at the Oak Ridge site, but Carpenter expressed reservations about this, because Oak Ridge was only 20 miles (32 km) from Knoxville . Physicists at the Metallurgical Laboratory were more sanguine about the safety of nuclear reactors; Eugene Wigner claimed they could be built on the Potomac River near Washington, DC . A major accident might result in loss of life and severe health effects, and Groves

25437-572: The reactor fleet grows older. The neutron was discovered in 1932 by British physicist James Chadwick . The concept of a nuclear chain reaction brought about by nuclear reactions mediated by neutrons was first realized shortly thereafter, by Hungarian scientist Leó Szilárd , in 1933. He filed a patent for his idea of a simple reactor the following year while working at the Admiralty in London, England. However, Szilárd's idea did not incorporate

25620-416: The reactor will continue to operate, particularly in the face of safety concerns or incident. Many reactors are closed long before their license or design life expired and are decommissioned . The costs for replacements or improvements required for continued safe operation may be so high that they are not cost-effective. Or they may be shut down due to technical failure. Other ones have been shut down because

25803-437: The reactor's output, while other systems automatically shut down the reactor in the event of unsafe conditions. The buildup of neutron-absorbing fission products like xenon-135 can influence reactor behavior, requiring careful management to prevent issues such as the iodine pit , which can complicate reactor restarts. There have been two reactor accidents classed as an International Nuclear Event Scale Level 7 "major accident":

25986-515: The region's crops and farming practices. They visited in winter when many fields looked fallow and farmers were absent for the season, often working in the shipyards in Seattle, or serving in the military, but did not consider their land to be abandoned. There had been few land sales in the area for comparison, and prices were poor during the Great Depression . The values assigned to the farms therefore tended to be quite low. Since work on

26169-427: The restricted area, so it was decided to demolish the Hanford construction camp, leaving only a residual camp for a thousand men in case emergency construction was required. The Area Engineer's office removed all electrical and mechanical equipment for re-use, but much of it was surplus to the needs of the Hanford Engineer Works and was either shipped to other Manhattan Project sites or disposed of. The demolition contract

26352-506: The sale of their property. An appraisal on 7 August confirmed that the bonds were adequately covered but until then many farmers refused sell. The biggest grievance was slow payment. On 18 June 1943, Matthias noted that only nineteen checks had been delivered for the two thousand completed transactions. Discontent over the acquisition was apparent in letters from Hanford Site residents to the War and Justice Departments . Bush briefed Roosevelt on

26535-441: The scientists working on radioactivity died of cancer as a result of their exposure. Radioactive patent medicines mostly disappeared, but other applications of radioactive materials persisted, such as the use of radium salts to produce glowing dials on meters . As the atom came to be better understood, the nature of radioactivity became clearer. Some larger atomic nuclei are unstable, and so decay (release matter or energy) after

26718-441: The shadow of nuclear devastation, portrayed in films such as Dr. Strangelove and The Atomic Cafe . However, the tremendous energy release in the detonation of a nuclear weapon also suggested the possibility of a new energy source. Nuclear power is a type of nuclear technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Nuclear energy

26901-416: The site could not commence immediately, Groves postponed taking physical possession of land under cultivation so that crops already planted could be harvested. Harvest dates ranged from April through September, depending on the type of crop, but when the residents came to be seen as a security hazard, an order was issued on 5 July expelling them with two days' notice. The harvest in the summer and fall of 1943

27084-485: The site. This authority was revoked in 1944 for security reasons. The Yakima rejected offers of an annual cash payment, and Matthias provided a truck and a driver to take them to Priest Rapids each day during the fishing season but they were not permitted to camp there overnight. Matthias gave assurances to the Native Americans that their graves would be treated with respect, but it would be fifteen years before

27267-414: The size and type of the house. In addition to houses, there were eight dormitories for men and seventeen for women. The first nineteen built had single and double rooms, but the last six had only double rooms. These provided accommodation for up to 1,000 people. Dormitory residents paid from $ 15.00 (equivalent to $ 234 in 2023) to $ 22.50 per month. Housing assignments were based on the employee's rank. At

27450-647: The small number of officials in the government who were initially charged with moving the project forward. The following year, the U.S. Government received the Frisch–Peierls memorandum from the UK, which stated that the amount of uranium needed for a chain reaction was far lower than had previously been thought. The memorandum was a product of the MAUD Committee , which was working on the UK atomic bomb project, known as Tube Alloys , later to be subsumed within

27633-594: The surrounding environment. The most significant meltdowns occurred at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and Chernobyl in the Soviet Ukraine . The earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 caused serious damage to three nuclear reactors and a spent fuel storage pond at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Military reactors that experienced similar accidents were Windscale in

27816-405: The task of designing, building, and operating the Manhattan Project's facilities to be beyond the resources of a single firm. At the same time, he wanted to keep the number of major contractors down for security reasons. Groves was attracted to DuPont , a firm he had worked with in the past, because it designed and built its own plants, suggesting it had the expertise to act as prime contractor for

27999-580: The time the last of the prefabricated houses was ordered in May 1944, most of the available sites were gone, and prefabricated houses were clustered together on the western side of Richland. Hiring a moving company to ship possessions was difficult in wartime, so the dwellings, including the prefabricated houses, were provided with basic furnishings, including a refrigerator, an electric stove, and an electric hot water system. Occupants paid monthly rentals of $ 27.50 (equivalent to $ 430 in 2023) to $ 80, depending on

28182-429: The time three-bedroom houses were considered a luxury, and Groves wanted two-bedroom houses; but DuPont argued that a quarter of the employees would be administrators or technical staff, who warranted larger homes. Groves was appalled at the idea of clustering houses of a certain value together, so that employees of a certain ranks would live in the same neighborhood. To Groves this was an overt assertion of social class in

28365-482: The treatment of foods have specific energy levels well below that which would cause any element in food to become radioactive. Food undergoing irradiation does not become any more radioactive than luggage passing through an airport X-ray scanner or teeth that have been X-rayed." Food irradiation is currently permitted by over 40 countries and volumes are estimated to exceed 500,000 metric tons (490,000 long tons; 550,000 short tons) annually worldwide. Food irradiation

28548-538: The union asked for local representation. Groves declined the request, but Matthias agreed to collect union dues on behalf of the union. This did not keep the workers from striking, and there were a series of wildcat strikes and stoppages. Nonetheless, the industrial relations record of the Hanford Engineer Works was good. Of 126,265,662 man-hours worked by the construction workforce between December 1943 and December 1946, 15,060 man-hours (0.011 percent) were lost due to stoppages, and 205 of these were disputes with management;

28731-523: The use of a neutron or gamma-ray source and a radiation detector which are lowered into boreholes to determine the properties of the surrounding rock such as porosity and lithography. [1] Road Construction - Nuclear moisture/density gauges are used to determine the density of soils, asphalt, and concrete. Typically a cesium-137 source is used. In biology and agriculture , radiation is used to induce mutations to produce new or improved species, such as in atomic gardening . Another use in insect control

28914-423: The use of nuclear power in transport ships). All nuclear power plants use fission. No man-made fusion reaction has resulted in a viable source of electricity. The medical applications of nuclear technology are divided into diagnostics and radiation treatment. Imaging - The largest use of ionizing radiation in medicine is in medical radiography to make images of the inside of the human body using x-rays. This

29097-494: The use of the term, cold pasteurization, to describe irradiated foods is controversial, because pasteurization and irradiation are fundamentally different processes, although the intended end results can in some cases be similar. Detractors of food irradiation have concerns about the health hazards of induced radioactivity . A report for the industry advocacy group American Council on Science and Health entitled "Irradiated Foods" states: "The types of radiation sources approved for

29280-501: The utilitarian post exchanges on Army posts. In this, and in many other things, Pehrson ultimately had his way, because DuPont was his customer, not the Army. The result was a compromise between his vision and that of Groves, although closer to the former than the latter. Groves wanted the houses to be clustered close together, so the residents could walk to amenities, but Pehrson gave them spacious lots, so cars and buses were required. The initial list of commercial establishments included

29463-424: The water for the steam turbines is boiled directly by the reactor core ; for example the boiling water reactor . The rate of fission reactions within a reactor core can be adjusted by controlling the quantity of neutrons that are able to induce further fission events. Nuclear reactors typically employ several methods of neutron control to adjust the reactor's power output. Some of these methods arise naturally from

29646-604: Was $ 43,674,392 (equivalent to $ 520,000,000 in 2023). The Manhattan District and DuPont set about recruiting a construction workforce with the help of the United States Employment Service and the War Manpower Commission . DuPont advertised for workers for an unspecified "war construction project", offering an "attractive scale of wages". Daily rates were higher than elsewhere: at Hanford unskilled laborers earned an average of $ 8

29829-481: Was a key step in the Chernobyl disaster . Reactors used in nuclear marine propulsion (especially nuclear submarines ) often cannot be run at continuous power around the clock in the same way that land-based power reactors are normally run, and in addition often need to have a very long core life without refueling . For this reason many designs use highly enriched uranium but incorporate burnable neutron poison in

30012-457: Was also an airport with a blacktop runway 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 2,000 feet (610 m) long. When the camp expanded, the airport was moved to a new site about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Hanford. The new airport had two runways, one aligned north-south and the other east-west. Both were 200 feet (61 m) wide, but the north-south runway was 4,000 feet (1,200 m) long and the east-west only 2,400 feet (730 m) long. This enabled

30195-633: Was awarded to the Mohawk Wrecking and Lumber Company of Detroit , which tendered the lowest bid of $ 103,005.30 (equivalent to $ 1,380,000 in 2023). Demolition commenced in January 1946 and was expected to take twelve months. A maximum of 363 workers were employed. Items salvaged included 23,000,000 board feet (54,000 m) of lumber, 157,000 feet (48,000 m) of wooden stave and 9,000 feet (2,700 m) of steel water pipe, 55,000 feet (17,000 m) of steel steam pipe and 6,500,000 square feet (600,000 m) of plasterboard. The total cost of

30378-544: Was built to handle 900,000 US gallons (3,400,000 L) per day; its capacity had to be doubled. Water was drawn from wells (rather than pumping from the Columbia River) and fed into a 1,000,000-US-gallon (3,800,000 L) reservoir. When the water table began to drop, fields around Richland were flooded with water from the irrigation system to maintain it. The total cost of the Richland village up to 31 December 1946

30561-417: Was concerned that even a minor one could disrupt vital war production – particularly of aluminum – or require evacuation of the Manhattan Project's isotope separation plants. But spreading the Oak Ridge facilities over a larger area would involve the purchase of more land. In December 1942, the number of reactors that needed to be built was still uncertain; for planning purposes it

30744-688: Was conducted to ensure that the implosion method of detonation would work, which it did. A uranium bomb, Little Boy , was dropped on the Japanese city Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed three days later by the plutonium-based Fat Man on Nagasaki . In the wake of unprecedented devastation and casualties from a single weapon, the Japanese government soon surrendered, ending World War II . Since these bombings , no nuclear weapons have been deployed offensively. Nevertheless, they prompted an arms race to develop increasingly destructive bombs to provide

30927-445: Was desirable to house them at least 10 miles (16 km) away. Even the construction workforce could not be housed on site, because some plant operation would have to be carried out during startup testing. The Army and DuPont engineers decided to create two communities: a temporary constructions camp and a more substantial operating village. Rather than create temporary construction camps at every building site, one large camp serviced all

31110-436: Was earmarked for the workers' village and was leased or purchased. Area D was earmarked for production plants and was purchased. Finally there were two parcels of land designated as Area E, that were to be acquired only if necessary. Ultimately, 6,599.45 acres (2,670.70 ha) of Area E was acquired by lease, fee or transfer. In all, 4,218 tracts totaling 428,203.65 acres (173,287.87 ha) were to be acquired, making it one of

31293-400: Was exceptionally bountiful, and prices were high due to the war. This increased land prices. It also promoted exaggerated ideas about the value of the land, leading to litigation. A particular problem was the irrigation districts , which provided a nucleus for organized opposition to the acquisition, and hired legal counsel. The farmers had to pay for their share of irrigation district land from

31476-506: Was hoped that the existing commercial establishments could be reused, and they were permitted to continue to trade after the acquisition, but most were found to be too small or too poorly located. Several were converted to other uses. Most of the new commercial establishments were completed by 15 February 1945. It was likewise hoped that the existing dwellings could be re-used, but many were in poor shape, and renovating them would have cost more than building new houses. By February 1945, only 25 of

31659-477: Was impractical. The project enjoyed the War Production Board 's AAA rating, giving it the highest priority for procurement of raw materials and supplies. DuPont created a division within E. B. Yancey's explosives department under Roger Williams known as TNX. Williams divided it into two subdivisions: a Technical Division, headed by Greenewalt, to work with the Metallurgical Laboratory on design; and

31842-568: Was intended to build six reactors and four chemical separation plants. The ideal site was described by eight criteria: 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 using the Tennessee Valley Authority was ruled out because the Clinton Engineer Works was expected to absorb its excess generating capacity. Between 18 and 31 December 1942 (just twelve days after

32025-450: Was no other site "where the work could be done so well". Stimson then went to see Senator Harry S. Truman , who agreed to remove the Hanford Site from the committee's investigations on the grounds of national security. Despite Stimson's attempts to keep all knowledge of its purpose from Truman, the latter wrote to a Spokane judge in July about the site: "I know something about that tremendous real estate deal, and I have been informed that it

32208-484: Was not completed before the Manhattan Project ended in December 1946. Construction commenced in March 1943 on a massive and technically challenging project. Most of the construction workforce, which reached a peak of nearly 45,000 in June 1944, lived in a temporary construction camp near the old Hanford townsite. Administrators, engineers and operating personnel lived in the government town established at Richland , which had

32391-440: Was not surrounded by a high wire fence. Because the town was open, Matthias asked DuPont to ensure that it was kept neat and tidy. Pehrson accepted the need for speed and efficiency, but his vision of a model late-20th century community differed from that of Groves. Groves was, for example, opposed to the stores having display windows , which he felt would encourage window shopping and impulse buying ; he wanted them to look like

32574-788: Was officially started by the Generation ;IV International Forum (GIF) based on eight technology goals. The primary goals being to improve nuclear safety, improve proliferation resistance, minimize waste and natural resource utilization, and to decrease the cost to build and run such plants. Generation V reactors are designs which are theoretically possible, but which are not being actively considered or researched at present. Though some generation V reactors could potentially be built with current or near term technology, they trigger little interest for reasons of economics, practicality, or safety. Controlled nuclear fusion could in principle be used in fusion power plants to produce power without

32757-428: Was one problem; keeping them was another. Turnover was a serious issue. Groves was sufficiently concerned to mandate exit interviews . These revealed that the main causes of dissatisfaction were the isolated site, poor working conditions, and a sense that the work was not important to the war effort, a consequence of the secrecy surrounding the Manhattan Project. To make up for the shortfall in workers, Matthias instituted

32940-463: Was opened in 1956 with an initial capacity of 50 MW (later 200 MW). The first portable nuclear reactor "Alco PM-2A" was used to generate electrical power (2 MW) for Camp Century from 1960 to 1963. All commercial power reactors are based on nuclear fission . They generally use uranium and its product plutonium as nuclear fuel , though a thorium fuel cycle is also possible. Fission reactors can be divided roughly into two classes, depending on

33123-410: Was seized upon by the manufacturers of quack medicine (as had the discoveries of electricity and magnetism , earlier), and a number of patent medicines and treatments involving radioactivity were put forward. Gradually it was realized that the radiation produced by radioactive decay was ionizing radiation , and that even quantities too small to burn could pose a severe long-term hazard . Many of

33306-649: Was the first to refer to "Gen II" types in Nucleonics Week . The first mention of "Gen III" was in 2000, in conjunction with the launch of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) plans. "Gen IV" was named in 2000, by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), for developing new plant types. More than a dozen advanced reactor designs are in various stages of development. Some are evolutionary from

33489-514: Was turned over to the Women's Army Corps . The barracks could hold 29,216 workers. As construction of the facilities got under way, Groves released construction workers working on barracks by purchasing hutments. These were simple, prefabricated plywood and Celotex dwellings capable of accommodating ten to twenty workers each. For heating, they had a wood- or coal-burning stove in each unit. In all, 820 double huts and 272 single huts were bought from

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