127-643: The Three Rivers Convention Center is the convention center for the Tri-Cities of south-eastern Washington , United States. It gets its name from the Snake River , Yakima River , and Columbia River , all of which intersect in the general area of the Tri-Cities. It is located in western Kennewick , adjacent to the Toyota Center , and opened in 2004. Early proposals for a convention center in
254-431: A half-life of only 138 days, so it was essential to keep a reactor running or the weapons would be rendered inoperative. The Army therefore shut down B Reactor on March 19. In August 1946, Franklin was informed that irradiating the feed to produce over 200 grams of plutonium per metric ton of uranium was resulting in too much undesirable plutonium-240 in the product. The power level on D and F Reactors
381-756: A 20-acre (8.1 ha) site with wooden, prefabricated metal and containing barracks, latrines, mess halls, motor pools, radars and administrative facilities. The military base was designated "Camp Hanford" in 1951. The following year the guns were augmented by Nike Ajax missiles, which were deployed at three sites on Wahluke Slope and one on what is now the Fitzner-Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve . Each site had two underground missile storage magazines, twenty missiles and eight missile launchers. The Nike Ajax missiles were later replaced with Nike Hercules missiles. The development of intercontinental ballistic missiles made
508-507: A 5-acre (2.0 ha) ghetto on the town's eastern fringe. They had no sewerage or running water in 1948, because the town's leaders felt that the black community should provide the $ 5,000 (equivalent to $ 63,407 in 2023) to pay for it. Black residents also did not qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. Soon after taking over from the Army, the AEC had contemplated the future of
635-424: A Japanese 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. The Hanford Engineer Works was the only U.S. nuclear facility to come under enemy attack. Hanford provided
762-590: A building or structure in the U.S. state of Washington is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tri-Cities, Washington The Tri-Cities are three closely linked cities ( Kennewick , Pasco , and Richland ) at the confluence of the Yakima , Snake , and Columbia Rivers in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington . The cities border one another, making the Tri-Cities seem like one uninterrupted mid-sized city. The three cities function as
889-490: A complete shutdown of the reactor, so the canning process had to be precise. Irradiated fuel slugs were transported by rail on a special railroad car operated by remote control to huge remotely-operated chemical separation plants about 10 miles (16 km) away. The separation buildings were massive windowless concrete structures, 800 feet (240 m) long, 80 feet (24 m) high and 65 feet (20 m) wide, with concrete walls 3 to 5 feet (0.91 to 1.52 m) thick. Inside
1016-465: 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
1143-423: A large degree of farming thanks to irrigation by the three nearby rivers. Wheat is the most commonly grown product; however, large amounts of apples , corn , grapes are also grown, along with potatoes , and other products including asparagus . Cherries are also grown in the region. Grapes grown in the region are essential to the wine industry. Wineries draw a large population of tourists. With 160 wineries in
1270-727: A loop that crosses two bridges and runs along the Columbia River through both Kennewick and Pasco. Sacagawea Heritage Trail also connects with the Richland Riverfront Trail, a marked hiking trail that focuses on the state of Washington's contribution to the nuclear history of the United States. The confluence of the Snake, Yakima, and Columbia rivers provides ample opportunity for boating, fishing, and swimming. Free boat launches can be found throughout all of
1397-555: A more than 12% increase from 2010. 2016 U.S. MSA estimates show the Tri-Cities population as over 300,000. The combined population of the three principal cities themselves was 220,959 at the 2020 census . As of April 1, 2021, the Washington State Office of Financial Management, Forecasting Division estimates the cities as having a combined population of 224,640. The Tri-Cities Airport is located in Pasco and provides
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#17327983073021524-474: A number of locally owned and operated restaurants. The Spudnut Shop, for example, located in northern Richland, was opened in 1948 and has been family-run ever since. The Travel Channel featured The Spudnut Shop and their donuts "made from potato flour and then deep-fried to perfection." Carmine's, also a family owned restaurant in the region, served Italian food in a historic home that was constructed in downtown Kennewick in 1929. The owners retired in 2021, closing
1651-515: A number of outdoor trail running locations. A number of competitive running events are held throughout the year, including a number which are sponsored by the Three Rivers Road Runners Club (3RRR). They include: The Tri-Cities is linked by a system of 67 miles (108 km) of paved pedestrian and bike trails that run through the various cities and along the rivers. The 23-mile (37 km) Sacagawea Heritage Trail forms
1778-508: A redox plant be given top priority. Meanwhile, the waste-settling tanks filled up with sludge , and attempts to transport it to the waste storage (241) areas were unsuccessful. It was therefore decided to bypass the waste settling tanks and send sludge directly to the 200 area, and construction of a bypass commenced in August 1946. GE invited bids for the construction of a new waste storage tank farm. Efforts were made to make better use of
1905-535: A sixth public high school, Southridge High , was founded in south Kennewick. The 2000s saw continued rapid growth as the Hanford site hired hundreds of workers to help with the cleanup effort. Additionally, the Tri-Cities saw a large influx of retirees from various areas of the Northwest. During this time, and the corresponding nationwide housing boom, all three cities flourished and grew significantly. Pasco became
2032-489: 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. Matthias reported to Groves that the Hanford Site was "far more favorable in virtually all respects than any other"; the survey party was particularly impressed by the fact that a high-voltage power line from Grand Coulee Dam to Bonneville Dam ran through
2159-700: Is 50 miles (80 km) away, to Umatilla, Oregon , 30 miles (48 km) away. Each city provides its own schooling services through their respective school districts— Kennewick 's, Pasco 's, and Richland 's. Public high schools in the Kennewick School District include Kennewick High School , Kamiakin High School , Southridge High School . Public high schools in the Pasco School District are Pasco High School , Chiawana High School , and New Horizons High School. In
2286-785: Is a decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington . It has also been known as Site W and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation . Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project , the site was home to the Hanford Engineer Works and B Reactor , the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in
2413-662: Is a single library operated by the City of Richland and is not part of the much larger library system. Public libraries in the Tri-Cities include: Other libraries in the Tri-Cities include: Airports located the area include Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco ( IATA : PSC , ICAO : KPSC ) which has passenger and commercial flights and Richland Airport in Richland ( IATA : RLD , ICAO : KRLD ) which serves private aircraft. Ben Franklin Transit provides public bus service throughout
2540-548: Is bordered on the southeast by the Tri‑;Cities , a metropolitan area composed of Richland , Kennewick , Pasco , and smaller communities, and home to nearly 300,000 residents. Hanford is a primary economic base for these cities. In 2000 large portions of the original site were turned over to the Hanford Reach National Monument . The remainder was divided by function into three main areas:
2667-615: Is equivalent to about 10 percent of the electricity generated in Washington and 4 percent of all electricity used in the Pacific Northwest and has several safeguards to protect against seismic, natural, or terrorist threats. The Tri-Cities economy has historically been based on farming and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. From Pasco's incorporation in 1891 to present day, the Tri-Cities have had
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#17327983073022794-416: Is one of the largest cleanup projects in the United States, costing over $ 1.4 million per day to turn over 53 million US gallons (200 Ml ) of nuclear waste into glass through a process called vitrification. Vitrification is a proven technique in the disposal and long-term storage of nuclear waste or other hazardous wastes. Original estimates were $ 2.8 billion over five years to clean up
2921-459: Is sometimes visible near Tri-Cities at specific times of the year. Higher education institutions in the Tri-Cities area include: In 2005, the State of Washington approved the transition of the existing Washington State University branch campus in Richland from a two-year to a four-year campus. In the fall of 2007 the campus admitted its first undergraduate students. Offering a range of programs,
3048-525: Is sponsored by Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland's school districts, Battelle, Washington State University Tri-Cities, and Columbia Basin College. There are also several private and faith-based schools in the area, including Tri-Cities Prep Highschool (Pasco) , Kingspoint Christian School K–12 (Pasco), Tri-Cities Adventist School (Pasco), Liberty Christian School (Richland), Bethlehem Lutheran K–8 (Kennewick), and Calvary Christian School K–8 (Kennewick). In
3175-536: Is the amount of dust blown about by the frequent winds. Thanks to the aforementioned rivers, a large amount of cheap irrigation is available. Washington is the most northwest of the lower 48 states —consequently, the area is in the Pacific Standard Time Zone . The Tri-Cities makes up the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern quadrant of Washington. The large Cascade Mountain Range to
3302-523: Is the only nuclear power station in the Pacific Northwest. It uses a boiling water reactor with a type 5 layout and was relicensed 10 years to operate until 2043. After nine years of construction, the plant began operating after a long and costly construction process that resulted in the largest municipal bond default in U.S. history. Originally operated and owned by the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS),
3429-660: The McNeil Island Penitentiary . 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. Discontent over the acquisition was apparent in letters sent from Hanford Site residents to the War and Justice Departments , and the Truman Committee began making inquiries. Stimson met with chairman of
3556-634: The National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 1855, Isaac Stevens , the governor of the Territory of Washington , negotiated with the Native American tribes to establish a reservation system. Treaties were signed, but were often ignored, as the reservation system they mandated was not compatible with traditional food-gathering or family groupings. In September 1858 a military expedition under Colonel George Wright defeated
3683-595: The Richland School District , public high schools include Richland High School , Hanford High School , and River's Edge High School. The area also contains two regional high schools, Tri-Tech and Delta High . Tri-Tech is a technical/vocational high school in the Kennewick School District that is attended by students from all over the Tri-Cities area. Delta High is a science and technology focused high school located in Pasco. It
3810-565: The U.S. nuclear arsenal . Nuclear technology developed rapidly during this period, and Hanford scientists produced major technological achievements. The town of Richland , established by the Manhattan Project, became self-governing in 1958, and residents were able to purchase their properties. After sufficient plutonium had been produced, the production reactors were shut down between 1964 and 1971. Many early safety procedures and waste disposal practices were inadequate, resulting in
3937-657: The Yakima , Snake , and Columbia rivers has been a meeting place for native peoples for centuries. The archaeological record of Native American habitation of this area stretches back over ten thousand years. Tribes and nations including the Yakama , Nez Perce , and Umatilla used the area for hunting, fishing, and gathering plant foods. Archaeologists have identified numerous Native American sites, including "pit house villages, open campsites, fish farming sites, hunting/kill sites, game drive complexes , quarries, and spirit quest sites", and two archaeological sites were listed on
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4064-633: The 1930s decreased the price of agricultural commodities and many farms were foreclosed on or abandoned. The economy was supported by the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam between 1933 and 1942, and the establishment of the Naval Air Station Pasco in 1942. 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
4191-520: The 1940s, the Hanford site employed a majority of residents. The United States government built a top-secret facility to produce and separate plutonium for nuclear weapons , and decided on an area just north of then-tiny Richland. The government built temporary quarters for the more than 45,000 workers and built permanent homes and infrastructure for other personnel in Richland. The city had an overnight population explosion, yet virtually no one knew what
4318-503: The 1940s. It did not have a daily newspaper or radio station until the mid-1940s. Even today, agriculture is a big part of the Tri-Cities, Pasco in particular. After the founding of the Hanford Site in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project , Richland became the largest city of the three overnight. Richland's Columbia High School adopted "Bombers" as its mascot (complete with mushroom cloud logo). In 1970, Kamiakin High School (in
4445-537: The 1970s, Kennewick has had the greatest population of the three cities. The Columbia Center Mall opened in 1969 on land newly incorporated into Kennewick, drawing growth to western Kennewick and south Richland. Completion of the Interstate 182 Bridge in 1984 made Pasco much more accessible, fueling the growth of that city. With the end of the Cold War, many in the area feared a shutdown of Hanford, followed by
4572-524: The AEC at the Hanford Site in 1951, less than a dozen were employed by GE, and about 250 by the construction contractors. The use of eating and recreational facilities by black people was discouraged, but not prohibited. Black people were even less welcome in Kennewick; there were only four living there in 1950 and five in 1960. Kennewick was a sundown town where there was a curfew for black people. They congregated in Pasco, where 1,213 black people lived in
4699-446: The AEC still required retirees to give up their homes – but the birth rate in 1948 was 34 per 1,000, well above the national average of 20 per 1,000. This tapered off during the 1950s, but there remained a larger than usual number of school-age children. There were only seven black people in Richland in 1950; this increased to 189 by 1960, when they accounted for 1.3 percent of the population. Only two black people worked for
4826-486: The AEC would continue to subsidize schools and municipal services through the 1960s, the citizens of Richland voted for incorporation, and the town became self-governing on December 12, 1958. In 1960 Richland received an All-America City Award . During the war the Hanford Site was patrolled by a Military Police detachment which, as of June 1945, had forty soldiers. In April 1947, they were replaced by GE security guards, who were issued M8 Greyhound armored cars. The Army
4953-548: The Columbia River basin in search of gold, but with little success. Walla Walla , which had been established as a military post in 1858, became a center for mining supplies, and a general store was established at White Bluffs . A ranch was established in Yakima Valley by Ben Snipes in 1859, and the Northern Pacific Railroad was extended into the area beginning in 1879. The railroad engineers founded
5080-622: The Columbia Valley, this industry accounts for $ 1 billion annually in Benton County alone. The Tri-Cities' climate allows the region to have a broad and sustainable agricultural economy. Local industries provide employment for thousands of people in the Tri-Cities area. Some of the top 20 employers in agriculture include ConAgra, Tyson Foods, and Broetje Orchards. Agriculture makes up 9.5% of employment in Tri-Cities and local businesses combined employ thousands of people. In 2012,
5207-591: The Native American tribes in the Battle of Spokane Plains to force compliance with the reservation system. Nonetheless, Native American use of the area continued into the 20th century. The Wanapum people were never forced onto a reservation, and they lived along the Columbia River in the Priest Rapids Valley until 1943. After gold was discovered in British Columbia , prospectors explored
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5334-418: The Tri-Cities are include Kadlec Regional Medical Center (Richland, Kennewick), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Lourdes Medical Center (Downtown Pasco, Richland, West Pasco), and Trios Health (Downtown Kennewick and West Kennewick). Mid-Columbia Libraries, an intercounty library system serving Benton, Franklin, and Adams Counties, is based in Kennewick, Washington, and operates five public branch libraries in
5461-699: The Tri-Cities area continued to maintain steady growth and a stable economic climate due in part to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which directed funding and jobs to the Hanford site and its various cleanup efforts. The Tri-Cities are in a semi-arid climate , receiving an average of 5 to 7 inches (130 to 180 mm) of precipitation every year. Winds periodically exceed 30 mph (48 km/h) when Chinook wind conditions exist. While there are an average 225 clear days every year, these are mainly between April 1 and November 1. Temperatures range from as low as −10 °F (−23 °C) in
5588-465: The Tri-Cities as well as TransPlus Night and Sunday limited capacity curb-to-curb service for $ 3 each way. Local cab service exists, and Uber entered the Kennewick market in December 2016, with expansion into Richland and Pasco the following year. Amtrak provides connection to the daily Empire Builder serving Portland and Chicago . Due to the dry climate, hot summers, and mild winters,
5715-498: The Tri-Cities emerged in the late 1970s, with the three principal cities of the area competing to attract a potential suitor. The initial plan for the Tri-Cities Coliseum (now Toyota Center) in the 1980s included an adjacent convention center, but it was not realized for several decades. 46°13′07″N 119°12′59″W / 46.2185°N 119.2164°W / 46.2185; -119.2164 This article about
5842-582: The Tri-Cities metropolitan area, one in downtown Kennewick and one on Clover Island . In 2010, Ice Harbor received a bronze award for their Sternwheeler Stout, Runaway Red Ale, Indian Pale Ale (IPA) and a Silver Award for their Tangerine "ExBEERience" Hefeweizen at the Washington Beer Awards competition. Another micro-brewery, the Atomic Ale Brew Pub & Eatery, is located in Richland and serves as Tri-Cities oldest brewpub and
5969-459: The Tri-Cities offers a variety of outdoor activities. The area is home to 10 golf courses which can be played nearly year-round. These include Canyon Lakes, Columbia Park, and Zintel Creek Golf Clubs in Kennewick; Sun Willows Golf Club and Pasco Golfland in Pasco; and Columbia Point, Horn Rapids, West Richland, Meadow Springs, and Buckskin Golf clubs in Richland. The Tri-Cities metropolitan area has
6096-484: The Tri-Cities quickly becoming a ghost town . These fears were allayed after the United States Department of Energy switched the facility's purpose from the creation of nuclear weapons to the effective sealing and disposal of radioactive waste . During the 1990s, several major corporations entered the Tri-Cities, which helped to begin diversifying the economy apart from the Hanford sector. In 1995,
6223-475: The Tri-Cities, and seven branch libraries in the surrounding area. Customers of Mid-Columbia Libraries have access to nearly 400,000 books, movies, magazines, and downloadable eBooks and audiobooks; the library system spends over $ 1 million annually on new materials and has the highest expenditure per capita for materials of any public library in Southeastern Washington. Richland Public Library
6350-741: The Wanapum people, Confederated Tribes and Bands of 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 were dried and provided food for the winter. The Natives rejected offers of an annual cash payment, and
6477-657: The Washington Title Insurance Company opened an office there to furnish 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. Some 4,218 tracts totaling 428,203.95 acres (173,287.99 ha) were to be acquired, making it one of the largest land acquisition projects in American history. Most of
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#17327983073026604-508: The area includes skunks , muskrats , coyotes , raccoons , deer, eagles, hawks and owls. The flora includes sagebrush , bitterbrush , a variety of grasses, prickly pear and willow . The original site was 670 square miles (1,740 km ) and included buffer areas across the river in Grant and Franklin counties. Some of this land has been returned to private use and is now covered with orchards, vineyards, and irrigated fields. The site
6731-808: The available uranium. Turnings, cuttings and shavings from the slug manufacture process had been sent to the Ames Laboratory in Iowa for briquetting . The equipment there was shipped to the Hanford Engineer Works. The briquettes, along with uranium scrap metal, was sent to the Metal Hydrides Company for recasting into billets. During 1947, tensions with the Soviet Union escalated as the Cold War set in. Clarke
6858-406: The buildings were canyons and galleries where a series of chemical processing steps separated the small amount of plutonium from the remaining uranium and fission products . Items were moved about with a 60-foot (18 m) 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
6985-432: The campus focuses on biotechnology , computer science , and engineering , due to the nearby Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Hanford Site. The university also offers a range of majors, including English , history , and other liberal arts and sciences. Columbia Basin College also offers higher education courses for residents of the Tri-Cities, as well as the Columbia Basin from Mattawa, Washington , which
7112-581: The center of the Tri-Cities metropolitan area , which consists of Benton and Franklin counties . The Tri-Cities urban area includes the city of West Richland , the census-designated places (CDP) of West Pasco and Finley , as well as the CDP of Burbank , despite the latter being located in Walla Walla County . The official 2016 estimate of the Tri-Cities MSA population is 283,869,
7239-470: The cities. The Tri-Cities is home to seven river-front parks and various other parks and playgrounds. Three skate parks are located in the area; two in Kennewick and one in Richland. Highlands Grange Park is a Kennewick city owned Public Park between 14th and 19th streets off of Union in Kennewick. This park covers 26 acres (11 ha), serving the surrounding new and old communities of approximately 13,000 citizens. Hanford Site The Hanford Site
7366-400: The coalition changed its name to Energy Northwest in 1998 because of the negative association with the original name (commonly pronounced "Whoops" in place of WPPSS). WPPSS defaulted on $ 2.25 billion in bonds resulting in payments that exceeded $ 12,000 per customer, an amount which was finally paid out in 1992 (10 years later). Its 1,190 gross megawatts can power the city of Seattle, and
7493-499: 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. When the Manhattan Project ended on December 31, 1946, there were still 237 tracts remaining to be settled. About 1,500 residents of Hanford, White Bluffs, and nearby settlements were relocated, as well as
7620-408: The communities of Richland, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos. The commissioners were eager to divest the AEC of the burden of their management. In 1947, AEC general manager Carroll L. Wilson commissioned Lyman S. Moore, the city manager of Portland, Maine , and an expert on municipal government, to produce a report on the management of the communities. He produced a road map to self-government. The first step
7747-435: The community, they remained separate and eventually became incorporated in 1955. Pasco was the largest city in the Tri-Cities, mostly due to its railroad station . It also had the most land for easy irrigation and farming and was still the largest up until the founding of Hanford near Richland. Farming was the basis of virtually every sector of the economy in the early years. Indeed, the area remained mostly rural well into
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#17327983073027874-427: The company had been after World War 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. Carpenter expressed reservations about building
8001-539: The construction camp on the site of the village of Hanford, and the operating village on that of Richland. The construction workforce peaked at 45,096 on June 21, 1944. About thirteen percent were women, and non-whites made up 16.45 percent. African-Americans lived in segregated quarters, had their own messes and recreation areas, and were paid less than white workers. Three types of accommodation were provided at Hanford: barracks, hutments and trailer parking. The first workers to arrive lived in tents while they erected
8128-459: 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
8255-442: The cultivation of wine grapes. The range of varietals grown throughout the region include Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Riesling, and Pinot Noir. The Tri-Cities region has a rich winery culture that attract tourists and visitors to the area. Some of the local microbreweries include: Ice Harbor Brewery Company, Atomic Ale Brewpub and Eatery, and White Bluff Brewing. This brewery was founded in 1996 and has two locations in
8382-459: The day. 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 DuPont was his contractor, not the Army. 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 , Richland
8509-469: The director of the Manhattan Project , as it came to be known. The project to build industrial-size plants for the manufacture of plutonium was codenamed the X‑;10 project. 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. To avoid being labeled as merchants of death , as
8636-715: The end of October, and consists primarily of fresh produce. A farmers market, located at the corner of Benton Street and Kennewick Avenue, takes place on Thursday evenings and runs annually from the end of May through October. The Tri-Cities is also home to automobile manufacturer SSC North America , the manufacturer of the SSC Aero . Other corporations with facilities in the Tri-Cities area include Amazon , Areva , Battelle Memorial Institute , Bruker , Lamb Weston , Fluor Corp. , Kaiser Aluminum , Lampson Cranes , Lockheed Martin , Reser's Fine Foods , Tyson Foods , URS Corp. , US Cellular , UniWest, and AECOM . Hospitals in
8763-449: The engineers devised methods to allow for the replacement of components via remote control. 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. To receive the radioactive wastes from the chemical separations process, there were "tank farms" consisting of 64 single-shell underground waste tanks. The first batch of plutonium
8890-537: The entire tube out, half of it was, allowing elements to spend time in parts of the reactor where the neutron flux was less dense. The old reactors could now be run much longer. In December, the AEC approved a scaled-back construction plan, with only one replacement reactor, at site D (called DR), and one reactor at a new site (called H). The new reactors used the same designs as the wartime ones, although they had more pure graphite to allow them to be run at higher power levels, and smaller graphite blocks surrounding
9017-446: The existing reactors, where they would be able to use their cooling water and separation facilities. Two more reactors would then be built on new sites. While this was being considered by the AEC, GE experimented with annealing, and found that if the reactors were run at 299 °C (570 °F) and then slowly cooled, the graphite's crystalline structure could be restored. The reactors could be run at higher temperatures by increasing
9144-471: The fastest growing city in Washington (in terms of both percent increase and number of new residents). In 2005, the Census Bureau reported that Pasco's population had surpassed Richland's for the first time since pre-Hanford days. Fueled by the boom, Chiawana High School was founded, and by 2019 had become the largest high school in the entire state. Despite the economic recession of the late 2000s,
9271-476: 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
9398-420: 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. Because construction plans had not yet been drawn up, and work on the site could not immediately commence, Groves decided to postpone
9525-636: The local shrub steppe ecosystem. It is the largest tract of shrub-steppe ecosystem remaining in the U.S. state of Washington. Limited city lights and an absence of photopollution in the Tri-Cities area allow for naked-eye and telescopic astronomy. The Tri-City Astronomy Club partners holds star gazing events at the Hanford Observatory. Hiking locations, such as Badger Mountain , Candy Mountain and Jump Off Joe Butte, provide views of sunrises and sunsets, studies of celestial bodies and stellar astronomy. The aurora borealis (or northern lights)
9652-472: The men had attended college, compared with 22 percent in the state of Washington as a whole, and the median annual family income in 1959 was $ 8,368 (equivalent to $ 87,463 in 2023) compared with $ 6,225 (equivalent to $ 65,064 in 2023). In 1950 26 percent of American families had an annual income of less than the poverty line of $ 2,000 (equivalent to $ 25,000 in 2023). In the nearby towns of Pasco and Kennewick, 24.4 and 25.2 percent respectively were below
9779-524: The missiles obsolete, and Camp Hanford became an outpost of Fort Lewis on July 1, 1959. The missile batteries were disbanded in 1960, and Camp Hanford was closed on March 31, 1961. Cold War tensions escalated in April 1948 with the Berlin Airlift . Construction was under way on the new DR and H Reactors, but the quickest way to increase production was to restart B Reactor. This
9906-414: The neighboring city of Kennewick) was founded in response to the continued influx of people. The economy continued to grow, but not without some turbulence. Every time the Hanford facilities experienced reduced funding, thousands of people would suddenly become jobless. During this time, other employers slowly made their way into the area, but they too would often be forced to cut jobs in the bad times. Since
10033-518: The next. Seven trailer camps were established, and at the peak of construction work 12,008 people were living in them. DuPont put the contract for building the village of Richland out to tender, and the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, G. Albin Pehrson , on March 16, 1943. Pehrson produced a series of standard house designs based on the Cape Cod and ranch-style house design fashions of
10160-529: The nuclear reactors were located along the river in an area designated as the 100 Area; the chemical separations complexes were located inland in the Central Plateau, designated as the 200 Area; and support facilities were located in the southeast corner of the site, designated as the 300 Area . Hanford is the site of Washington state's highest recorded temperature of 120 °F (48.9 °C), reached on June 29, 2021. The confluence of
10287-583: The only sounds were those of the water pumps. Cooling water was pumped through the tubes at the rate of 30,000 US gallons per minute (1,900 L/s). This was enough water for a city of a million people. Uranium arrived at the Hanford Engineer Works in the form of billets . In the Metal Fabrication and Testing (300) Area they were extruded into rods and machined into cylindrical pieces, 1.569 inches (3.99 cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20 cm) long, known as "slugs". The initial charge of
10414-450: The plutonium for the bomb used in the 1945 Trinity nuclear test . 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. 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." The existence and purpose of Hanford
10541-583: The population stabilized, a housing shortage persisted into the 1950s. GE closed down the last of the dormitories in 1958. Richland had a newspaper, the Richland Villager , and every resident received a free copy. Commercial concession holders were pressured to buy adverting space. The villagers paid low rents for their houses, and Village Services was available to help with unpacking, laying carpets or babysitting. The adult population of Richland had an average education of 12.5 years, and 40 percent of
10668-607: The poverty line; in Richland, it was just 4.9 percent. The percentage of high school graduates in Richland was 74.3 percent, compared with 53.5 in Pasco and 54.6 in Kennewick. Women constituted a quarter of the workforce, and the number of working wives was much higher than the national average. Although GE liked to present an image of a middle-class community, most of the Hanford Site employees were working-class shift workers with high school education only. There were few senior citizens in Richland ;– in 1947
10795-401: The power level. Some helium in the atmosphere surrounding the reactors was replaced with carbon dioxide , which conducted heat less efficiently. This allowed more heat to build up in the graphite. To reduce the incidence of cans jamming, their size was reduced from 8 to 4 inches (20 to 10 cm). More plutonium was produced by keeping the fuel elements in the reactor longer. Instead of pushing
10922-408: The process tubes to restrict expansion. The population of Richland had already begun to increase again. In 1946 the Hanford Site had 4,479 operating employees and 141 construction workers. Two years later this had increased to 8,628 operating employees and 14,671 construction workers. Richland grew from 14,000 people in 1947 to 22,000 in 1950. To house the construction workers, a new construction camp
11049-505: The purchase of more land and the expansion needed was still uncertain; for planning purposes, six reactors and four chemical separation plants were envisioned. 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 use of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
11176-495: The purpose of Hanford was until the destruction of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, by an atomic weapon containing Hanford-produced plutonium. After World War II Hanford continued work on creating material for nuclear weapons during the Cold War . After the fall of the USSR in 1991, Hanford, the site of severe nuclear contamination, changed its mission from plutonium production to environmental cleanup and restoration. The Hanford site
11303-401: The reactors at Oak Ridge, Tennessee ; with Knoxville only 20 miles (32 km) 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
11430-518: The reactors continuously at full power had resulted in the Wigner effect , swelling of the graphite due to the displacement of the atoms in its crystalline structure by collisions with neutrons. This had the potential to buckle the aluminum tubes used for the fuel and control rods and disable the reactors completely if a water pipe ruptured. The polonium-210 used in the Fat Man's neutron initiators had
11557-511: The region with commercial and private air service. Pasco is the seat of Franklin County, while the other two cities are located in Benton County. In 2010, Kiplinger rated the Tri-Cities among the Top 10 best places to raise a family, and CNN/Money ranked the Tri-Cities one of the top 10 best bets for gains in housing value, due to its relatively stable economic conditions since the early 2000s. Pasco
11684-477: The release of significant amounts of radioactive materials into the air and the Columbia River, resulting in higher rates of cancer in the surrounding area. The Hanford Site became the focus of the nation's largest environmental cleanup . A citizen-led Hanford Advisory Board provides recommendations from community stakeholders, including local and state governments, regional environmental organizations, business interests, and Native American tribes . Cleanup activity
11811-720: The restaurant after celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary. Also notable is the BBQ restaurant Porter's which began as a food truck in Richland and has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives hosted by Guy Fieri . In contrast to Seattle, the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains, and the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula, the Columbia Valley enjoys long, warm, summer days, and crisp cool nights. The dry weather combined with rich volcanic soils and controlled irrigation produce near-perfect conditions for
11938-598: The site and B Reactor. The Hanford Site occupies 586 square miles (1,518 km ) – roughly equivalent to half the total area of Rhode Island – within Benton County, Washington . It is a desert environment receiving less than ten inches (250 mm) of annual precipitation, covered mostly by shrub-steppe vegetation. The Columbia River flows along the site for approximately 50 miles (80 km), forming its northern and eastern boundary. The Columbia and Yakima Rivers contain salmon , sturgeon , steelhead trout and bass , and wildlife in
12065-457: The site once a year to learn about their sacred sites. DuPont advertised for workers in newspapers for an unspecified "war construction project" in southeastern Washington, offering an "attractive scale of wages" and living facilities. 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 10 miles (16 km) away. Even
12192-496: The site, and there was an electrical substation on its edge. Groves visited the site on January 16, 1943, and approved the selection. The facility became known as the Hanford Engineer Works (HEW), and the site was codenamed Site W. The Secretary of War , Henry L. Stimson , authorized the acquisition of the land on February 8, 1943. A Manhattan District project office opened in Prosser, Washington , on February 22, and
12319-674: The state of Washington was rated No. 1 in the nation when it comes to growing apples, hops, spearmint oil, sweet cherries, pears, concord grapes and processing carrots. The Mid-Columbia region including the Tri-Cities grows most of these crops. The region's climate and irrigation from nearby rivers, like the Columbia, Snake, and Yakima rivers, allow farmers to produce corn, hay, wheat and potatoes. In Washington there are 39,500 farms; 1,630 of these farms are located in Benton County and 891 are located in Franklin County. The Tri-Cities has
12446-579: The superiority of the American way . The AEC's September 1950 appropriation called upon it to take steps to impose democratic government and free enterprise on the AEC communities. The first step was taken on October 1, 1953, when the AEC increased the rents in Richland by 25% to bring them into line with those in neighboring communities. In 1955, the town voted on disposal and incorporation; both measures were overwhelmingly defeated. Nonetheless, that year Congress passed Public Law 221, which provided for
12573-443: 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 gardens . The War Department arranged with Federal Prison Industries for crops to be harvested by prisoners from
12700-425: 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 welded on. A defective can could burst and jam in the reactor, stop the flow of cooling water, and force
12827-588: The towns of Kennewick and Pasco. Settlers moved into the region, initially along the Columbia River south of Priest Rapids. They established farms and orchards supported by small-scale irrigation projects, but most went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893 . The Reclamation Act of 1902 provided for federal government participation in the financing of irrigation projects, and the population began expanding again, with small town centers at Hanford , White Bluffs and Richland established between 1905 and 1910. The Great Depression of
12954-555: The trains in May, and in late July shipments began being dispatched by air from the airport at Hanford. 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. 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. This occurred on March 10, 1945, when
13081-507: The transfer of government property in Richland to the townsfolk. Thousands of people attended protest rallies and sent angry letters and petitions to Congress. Congressional hearings were held, and prices set by the FHA were reduced. People who had been dispossessed by the acquisition process during the war petitioned to be allowed to buy their property back, but they were ignored. By July 1958, 4,200 homes had been sold. After receiving assurances that
13208-545: The waste, though estimates quickly grew in the early 1990s to $ 50 billion with a completion date of 30 years. As of 2021, the additional cost to complete cleanup is now projected to be between $ 300 and $ 640 billion with an estimated completion date of 2078. Over 18 percent of all jobs in the Benton Franklin County area are nuclear-related, research-related, or engineering. The Columbia Generating Station operates ten miles outside of Richland and
13335-513: The west contributes to the semi-arid climate, which is far drier than the famously wet western side of the state. See rain shadow for more information on this phenomenon. The region's climate results in a shrub-steppe ecosystem which has 18 endemic plant species. Just west of Richland, the Fitzner/Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve was established to study the unique plants and animals found in
13462-428: The winter (record low −29 °F (−34 °C) in December 1919) to as high as 110 °F (43 °C) in the summer, and Richland reached 118 °F (48 °C) during the 2021 Western North America heat wave . The region receives a yearly average of seven inches of snow but has received as much as 50 inches. Due to the semi-arid climate and subsequent large amounts of sand, a perpetual annoyance to residents
13589-511: The world. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first atomic bomb , which was tested in the Trinity nuclear test , and in the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki . During the Cold War , the project expanded to include nine nuclear reactors and five large plutonium processing complexes, which produced plutonium for most of the more than sixty thousand weapons built for
13716-509: Was General Electric (GE), which took over operations at Hanford on September 1, 1946, and accepted a formal control on September 30. On December 31, 1946, the Manhattan Project ended and control of the Hanford Site passed to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The total cost of the Hanford Engineer Works up to that time was $ 348,101,240 (equivalent to $ 5,438,933,368 in 2023). GE inherited serious problems. Running
13843-436: Was added to the cans to stabilize them under high exposures, and tests confirmed that they could withstand three times the exposure used in 1946 without rupture. In March 1950, GE was authorized to run the reactors at 305 MW instead of 250. This cut the use of raw materials by half, and yielded forty percent more plutonium per operating dollar. The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949. The explosion
13970-479: Was attempted. The other problem was that the bismuth phosphate process used to separate the plutonium left the uranium in an unrecoverable state. The Metallurgical Laboratory had researched a promising new redox separation process, using hexone as a solvent. The AEC was concerned about the supply of uranium, and the General Advisory Committee of the AEC recommended that construction of
14097-461: Was authorized later that month. Shugg was recalled to Washington, DC, to serve as the AEC deputy general manager in August, and was succeeded by Frederick C. Schlemmer on September 16. In turn, he was succeeded by David F. Shaw on June 1, 1950. Shaw was succeeded by James E. Travis in June 1955, and he remained the site manager until June 1965. It was also possible to improve productivity. Zirconium
14224-606: Was chosen, and started producing tritium in 1950. For the longer term, the AEC decided to construct new reactors, of a different design using enriched uranium and heavy water as a moderator, at a new site, which became the Savannah River Site . The outbreak of the Korean War in September 1951 prompted the AEC to authorize a sixth reactor at Hanford on January 23, 1951. Construction began in June. The new reactor
14351-516: Was completed on September 13, 1944. The reactor went critical in late September and, after overcoming neutron poisoning , produced its first plutonium on November 6, 1944. The reactors were graphite moderated and water cooled. They consisted of a 28-by-36-foot (8.5 by 11.0 m), 1,200-short-ton (1,100 t) graphite cylinder lying on its side, penetrated horizontally through its entire length by 2,004 aluminum tubes containing 200 short tons (180 t) of uranium slugs. They had no moving parts;
14478-533: Was concerned that U.S. plutonium production was centered at one vulnerable site. In March 1950 the 5th Anti-aircraft Artillery Group arrived to provide air defenses, and established its headquarters in North Richland. The group consisted of four battalions, the 83rd, 501st, 518th, and 519th Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalions, each of which had four batteries of 120 mm anti-aircraft guns. Each battery had four guns, which were deployed in sandbagged revetments on
14605-734: 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 nuclear weapons program . The Metallurgical Laboratory physicists worked on designing nuclear reactors ("piles") that could irradiate uranium and transmute it into plutonium. Meanwhile, chemists investigated ways to separate plutonium from uranium. In September 1942, Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves Jr. became
14732-461: Was detected by a U.S. Air Force weather reconnaissance aircraft four days later. In response, President Harry S. Truman authorized a crash program to develop the hydrogen bomb . Preliminary designs called for large amounts of tritium . This could be produced in a reactor using target slugs loaded with lithium deuteride and fuel rods containing enriched uranium . One or more reactors would have to be set aside for tritium production. H Reactor
14859-447: Was established called North Richland, which had a peak population of 13,000 in 1948. Many operating employees and construction workers also lived in Kennewick and Pasco. Shugg arranged for barracks to be brought by barge down the Columbia River from the old Naval Air Station Pasco. About 3,850 houses remained from the war; these were augmented by 800 houses and 64 apartments in 1947, and another 1,000 houses and apartments in 1948. Although
14986-772: Was not surrounded by a high wire fence, thus Matthias asked DuPont to ensure that it was kept neat and tidy. 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‑B, 105‑D, and 105‑F) and three plutonium processing plants (221‑T, 221‑B, and 221‑U). The project required 386 miles (621 km) of roads, 158 miles (254 km) of railway, and four electrical substations. The HEW used 780,000 cubic yards (600,000 m ) of concrete and 40,000 short tons (36,000 t) of structural steel. Construction on B Reactor commenced in August 1943 and
15113-468: Was opened in 1997. The Market at the Parkway in Richland, WA is a farmers market with takes place every Friday from June through October. Local artists provide music and crafts, and Fresh produce, specialty foods, arts and crafts are sold at the Richland farmers market. The Pasco Farmers Market, which celebrated 25 years in 2013, takes place every Wednesday and Saturday morning beginning in May through
15240-576: 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. Matthias was succeeded as area engineer by Colonel Frederick J. Clarke in January 1946. DuPont would soon be gone too. Carpenter asked to be released from the contract. Groves informed Robert P. Patterson , who had succeeded Stimson as Secretary of War on September 21, 1945, Groves's choice of replacement
15367-424: Was reduced, which also extended their useful life. Some experiments were conducted with annealing the graphite. It was found in laboratory testing of samples that heating to 400 °C (752 °F) retired the graphite by 24 percent, to 600 °C (1,112 °F) by 45 percent and to 1,000 °C (1,830 °F) by 94 percent, but the consequences of heating the reactors so much had to be considered before this
15494-598: Was refined in the 221‑T plant from December 26, 1944, to February 2, 1945, and delivered to the Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico on February 5, 1945. Two identical reactors, D Reactor and F 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. By April kilogram-quantity shipments of plutonium were headed to Los Alamos. Road convoys replaced
15621-621: 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 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 1 , the first nuclear reactor,
15748-880: Was still ongoing in 2023, with over 10,000 workers employed on cleanup activities. Hanford hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station , and various centers for scientific research and development, such as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory , the Fast Flux Test Facility and the LIGO Hanford Observatory . In 2015, it was designated as part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park . Tourists can visit
15875-484: Was succeeded by Carleton Shugg on September 2. Within days of arrival he demanded overtime be used to speed up construction work then in progress. The size of the nuclear stockpile was limited by plutonium production. There was enough for thirteen bombs at the end of 1947. Walter J. Williams, the AEC's director of production, worked with GE engineers to produce plans for three replacement reactors (called BR, DR and FR). To save time and money, they would be built adjacent to
16002-423: Was the first of the Tri-Cities to be incorporated, in 1891. Kennewick was incorporated in 1904, and Richland followed in 1910. West Richland —a suburb of Richland, as well as the fourth largest city in the metropolitan area—was founded by dissatisfied residents of Richland, who wished to be home owners rather than renters of government-owned houses, after the arrival of Hanford . Despite attempts by Richland to annex
16129-478: Was to overhaul the accounting system to produce comparable reports on housing, commercial operations, utilities and government. It would then be possible to move to charging market rates for rents, utilities and municipal services, and ultimately to establish self-government. There was scant enthusiasm for this in Richland, but the United States was engaged in an ideological conflict with the Soviet Union over
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