B Reactor

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = B Reactor

| nrhp_type = nhl

| image = Hanford B Reactor.jpg

| caption = The face of B Reactor during construction.

| location = About {{cvt|5.3|mile|km}} northeast of junction of State Route 24 and State Route 240 on the Hanford Site

| coordinates = {{Coord|46|37|49|N|119|38|50|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Washington#USA

| nearest_city = Richland, Washington

| area = {{cvt|9.5|acre|ha}}

| built = 7 June 1943{{cite news |url=https://www.energy.gov/about/breactor.htm |title=World's first nuclear reactor now a landmark |access-date=2008-08-26 |author=Shannon Dininny |agency=Associated Press |date=2008-08-26 |quote=Construction began on June 7, 1943... |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916040414/http://www.energy.gov/about/breactor.htm |archive-date=16 September 2008 |url-status=dead}} to September 1944{{cite web |url=https://www.energy.gov/about/breactor.htm |title=Department of Energy – B Reactor |access-date=2008-08-26 |publisher=United States Department of Energy |date=2007-04-20 |quote=Completed in September 1944... |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916040414/http://www.energy.gov/about/breactor.htm |archive-date=16 September 2008 |url-status=dead}}

| architect = E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company

| architecture =

| designated_nrhp_type = 19 August 2008{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2008-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf |title=Weekly List Actions |access-date=2008-08-30 |publisher=National Park Service |date=2008-08-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031143513/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/listings/20080829.HTM |archive-date=October 31, 2008}}

| added = 3 April 1992

| visitation_num =

| visitation_year =

| refnum = 92000245

| mpsub =

}}

The B Reactor at the Hanford Site, near Richland, Washington, was the first large-scale nuclear reactor ever built, at 250 MW. It achieved criticality on September 26, 1944. The project was a key part of the Manhattan Project, the United States nuclear weapons development program during World War II. Its purpose was to convert part of its natural uranium fuel into plutonium-239 by neutron activation, for use in nuclear weapons. Pure plutonium was then chemically separated in the site's T Plant, as an alternative to the Project's uranium enrichment plants. The B reactor was graphite moderated and water-cooled, via a contaminating open cycle with the Columbia River.

It was preceded by Clinton Laboratory's X-10 Graphite Reactor, a pilot plant for reactor production and chemical separation of plutonium, which by mid-1944 had reached a capacity of 4 MW. The B reactor thus represented a massive leap of two orders of magnitude in reactor design. Primarily constructed by DuPont, the operation was assisted by scientists including Enrico Fermi, John Archibald Wheeler, and Chien-Shiung Wu. Two identical reactors, the D Reactor and F Reactor, were launched in December 1944 and February 1945. The plutonium from the site was used in the Trinity test, the Fat Man bomb detonated above Nagasaki, the demon core, and thousands of US warheads during the Cold War. By the early 1960s, the reactors had been upgraded to capacities of 2000 MW. It is historically significant as the world's first large-scale reactor, the first to use water cooling, the first to experience xenon poisoning, the first employed for thermonuclear weapon tritium production, and the seventh critical assembly in total.

The reactor was permanently shut down in February 1968. It has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark since 19 August 2008{{Cite report |title=National Historic Landmark Nomination: B Reactor / 105-B; The 105-B Building in the 100-B/C Area at Hanford |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/Fall07Nominations/B%20Reactor.pdf |date=February 2007 |author1=Michele S. Gerber |author2=Brian Casserly |author3=Frederick L. Brown |publisher=National Park Service|archive-date=2012-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026114343/http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/Fall07Nominations/B%20Reactor.pdf}} and in July 2011 the National Park Service recommended that the B Reactor be included in the Manhattan Project National Historical Park commemorating the Manhattan Project.{{Cite news |last=Cary |first=Annette |title=HANFORD: Park service recommends B Reactor for national park |newspaper=Tri-City Herald |date=13 July 2011 |url=http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/07/13/1565637/hanford-park-service-recommends.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204194630/http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/07/13/1565637/hanford-park-service-recommends.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 February 2013 |access-date=17 July 2011}} Visitors can take a tour of the reactor by advance reservation.{{cite web |title=The B Reactor National Historic Landmark |url=http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/ |publisher=Manhattan Project: B Reactor |access-date=12 November 2015}}

Design and construction

The reactor was designed and built by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company based on experimental designs tested by Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago, and tests from the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was designed to operate at 250 megawatts (thermal).

The purpose of the reactor was to breed plutonium from natural uranium metal. Enriching fissionable ²³⁵U from ²³⁸U, the dominant natural isotope, was extremely complex; plutonium's distinct chemistry made separation trivial by comparison. For example, the Y12 uranium enrichment plant in Tennessee required 14,700 tons of silver loaned by the Treasury Department for the windings in its calutrons, employed 22,000 people and consumed more electrical power than most states. Reactor B on the other hand needed only a few dozen employees and far fewer exotic materials required in much smaller quantities. The most important special material needed were the 1,200 tons of purified graphite for neutron moderation, and only enough electricity to run the cooling pumps.The New World 1939, Page 71, Richard G. Hewlett, 1972{{cite web |url=https://www.energy.gov/management/b-reactor |title=B Reactor |publisher= U.S. Department of Energy}}

The reactor has a footprint of {{cvt|46|by|38|ft|lk=on}} (about {{cvt|1750|sqft}} and is {{cvt|41|ft}} tall, giving a volume of {{cvt|71500|cuft}}. The reactor core itself consists of a {{cvt|36|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} graphite box measuring {{cvt|28|by|36|ft}} occupying a volume of {{cvt|36288|cuft}} and weighing {{cvt|1200|ST}}. It is penetrated horizontally through its entire length by 2,004 aluminum tubes containing fuel and vertically by channels housing the control rods.

The core is surrounded by a thermal shield of cast iron {{cvt|8|to|10|in|cm}} thick weighing {{cvt|1000|ST}}. Masonite and steel plates enclose the thermal shield on its top and sides, forming a biological shield for radiation protection. The bottom of the thermal shield was supported by a {{cvt|23|ft|m|adj=mid|-thick}} concrete pad topped by cast-iron blocks. Based on the success of the first atomic pile, graphite was selected to moderate the nuclear reaction. This reaction was fueled by {{cvt|200|ST}} of metallic uranium slugs approximately {{cvt|25|mm|0}} diameter, {{cvt|70|mm|0}} long (about as large as of a roll of quarters), sealed in aluminum cans, and loaded into the aluminum tubes.

The reactor was water-cooled. Its coolant was pumped from the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, through the aluminum tubes and around the uranium slugs at a rate of {{cvt|75000|USgal|L}} per minute. The water was discharged into settling basins. Water was held in the basins to permit the decay of short-lived radioactive waste, the settling out of particulate matter gathered from the reactor, and for the water to cool to within 11 °F of the river's temperature. It was then discharged back into the Columbia River.{{cite web |title=Hanford Site Virtual Tours: 100-B Area |url=http://www.hanford.gov/?page=347&parent=326 |work=Hanford Site website |author=United States Department of Energy |location=Richland, Washington |access-date=2009-10-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917223959/http://www.hanford.gov/?page=347&parent=326 |archive-date=September 17, 2008 |author-link=United States Department of Energy}}

File:Hanford Reach National Monument.png with the B/C reactor site shown at the upper left.]]

Operation

The B Reactor had its first nuclear chain reaction in September 1944, the D Reactor in December 1944 and the F Reactor in February 1945. The initial operation was halted by a problem identified as neutron absorption by the fission product Xe-135, first identified in a research paper of Chien-Shiung Wu that was shared with Fermi.{{Cite web |last=Dicke |first=William |title=Chien-Shiung Wu, 84, Top Experimental Physicist |url=http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/articles/wuobit.html |date=1997-02-18}} It was overcome by increasing the amount of uranium charged. The reactor produced plutonium-239 by irradiating uranium-238 with neutrons generated by the nuclear reaction. It was one of three reactors – along with the D and F reactors – built about six miles (10 km) apart on the south bank of the Columbia River. Each reactor had its own auxiliary facilities that included a river pump house, large storage and settling basins, a filtration plant, large motor-driven pumps for delivering water to the face of the pile, and facilities for emergency cooling in case of a power failure.

Emergency shutdown of the reactor, referred to as a SCRAM, was attained either by rapidly fully inserting the vertical safety rods or, as a backup method, by the injection of borated water into the reactor. In January 1952, the borated water system was replaced by a "Ball-3X" system that injected nickel-plated high-boron steel balls into the channels occupied by the vertical safety rods.

The plutonium for the nuclear bomb used in the Trinity test in New Mexico and the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan was created in the B reactor. The B Reactor ran for two decades, and was joined by additional reactors constructed later. It was permanently shut down in February 1968.{{cite journal |last1=Boyle |first1=Rebecca |title=Greetings from Isotopia |journal=Distillations |date=2017 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=26–35 |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/greetings-from-isotopia |access-date=June 19, 2018}}

Current status

File:B reactor exterior 2018.jpeg

File: B reactor control room 2018.jpeg

File:B reactor face crane 2018.jpeg

The United States Department of Energy has administered the site since 1977{{cite news |last1=Long |first1=Tony |title=All U.S. Energy Placed Under Single Roof |url=https://www.wired.com/2011/08/0804us-energy-dept-created-doe/ |access-date=19 June 2018 |work=Wired.com |date=August 4, 1977}}{{cite web |title=S. 826 — 95th Congress: Department of Energy Organization Act |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/95/s826 |website=www.GovTrack.us |access-date=19 June 2018 |date=1977}} and offers public tours on set dates during the spring, summer, and fall of the year, as well as special tours for visiting officials.{{cite web |title=Hanford Site Tours |url=https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/hanfordsitetours |website=Hanford.gov |access-date=19 June 2018}}

{{As of|2014}} six of the nine production reactors at Hanford were considered to be in "interim safe storage" status, and two more were to receive similar treatment. The exception was the B Reactor, which was given special status for its historical significance.{{cite book |last1=National Research Council |title=Best Practices for Risk-Informed Decision Making Regarding Contaminated Sites: Summary of a Workshop Series |date=2014 |publisher=The National Academies Press |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-309-30305-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSdfBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT68 |access-date=19 June 2018}}

In a process called cocooning or entombment, the reactor buildings are demolished up to the {{cvt|4|ft|m|adj=mid|-thick}} concrete shield around the reactor core. Any openings are sealed and a new roof is built. Most auxiliary buildings at the first three reactors have been demolished, as well.

The C reactor was put into operation in 1952 and was shut down in 1969.{{cite web |title=C Reactor |url=https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/CReactor |website=Hanford.gov |access-date=19 June 2018}} It was cocooned as of 1998.{{cite news |last1=Cary |first1=Annette |title=Looking inside Hanford's cocooned reactors |url=http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/hanford/article32231739.html |access-date=19 June 2018 |work=Tri-City Herald |date=July 4, 2015}}

The D reactor operated from 1944 to June 1967, and was cocooned in 2004. The DR Reactor went online in October 1950,{{cite web |title=D and DR Reactors |url=https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/DDRReactors |website=Hanford.gov |access-date=19 June 2018}} and was shut down in 1964. It was cocooned in 2002.{{cite web |title=ISS Reactors |url=https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/LTSTransition/ISSReactors#DR_Reactor |website=Hanford.gov |access-date=19 June 2018}}

The F reactor was shut down in June 1965 and cocooned in 2003.{{cite news |last1=Cary |first1=Annette |title=Hanford's F Reactor passes 5-year inspection |url=http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/hanford/article32203065.html |access-date=19 June 2018 |work=Tri-City Herald |date=October 22, 2014}}

The H Reactor became operational as of October 1949 and was shut down as of April 1965. It was cocooned as of 2005.{{cite web |title=H Reactor |url=https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/HReactor |website=Hanford.gov |access-date=19 June 2018}}

Cocooning of the N-Reactor, which operated from 1963 to 1987, was completed as of 14 June 2012.{{cite news |last1=Office of Environmental Management |title=N Reactor Placed In Interim Safe Storage: Largest Hanford Reactor Cocooning Project Now Complete |url=https://www.energy.gov/em/articles/hanford-workers-enter-reactor-prepare-cocooning |access-date=19 June 2018 |work=Energy.gov |date=June 14, 2012}}

The decommissioned reactors are inspected every five years by the Department of Energy.

The K East and K West reactors were built in the 1950s and went into use in 1955. They were shut down in 1970 and 1971, but reused temporarily for storage later.{{cite book |last1=Gerber |first1=Michele Stenehjem |title=On the home front : the cold war legacy of the Hanford nuclear site |date=2007 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |isbn=978-0803259959 |page=227 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Y33xWBvyb0C&pg=PA227 |access-date=19 June 2018}}

Preliminary plans for interim stabilizing of the K-East and K-West reactors were underway as of 30 January 2018.{{cite news |last1=Office of Environmental Management |title=Hanford Workers Enter Reactor to Prepare for Cocooning |url=https://www.energy.gov/em/articles/hanford-workers-enter-reactor-prepare-cocooning |access-date=19 June 2018 |work=Energy.gov |date=January 30, 2018}}

The B Reactor was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#{{NRHP url|92000245|92000245}}) on 3 April 1992. A Record of Decision (ROD) was issued in 1999, and an EPA Action Memorandum in 2001 authorized hazards mitigation in the reactor with the intention of allowing public tours of the reactor.{{cite web |last1=Potter |first1=Robert F. |title=Preserving the Hanford B-Reactor: A Monument to the Dawn of the Nuclear Age |url=https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201001/potter.cfm |website=APS Physics |access-date=19 June 2018}} It was named a National Historic Landmark on 19 August 2008.

In December 2014, passage of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) made the B reactor part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which also includes historic sites at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Los Alamos, New Mexico.{{cite web |title=Congress Passes Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act |url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/article/congress-passes-manhattan-project-national-historical-park-act |website=Atomic Heritage Foundation |access-date=20 June 2018 |date=December 12, 2014}}{{cite web |title=B Reactor Museum Association Richland, Washington, USA |url=http://b-reactor.org/ |website=B Reactor |access-date=20 June 2018}} The park was formally established by a Memorandum of Agreement on November 10, 2015, which was signed by the National Park Service and the Department of Energy. Museum development at Hanford may include the B Reactor, Bruggemann's Warehouse, Hanford High School, Pump House, and White Bluffs Bank.{{cite web |title=Foundation Document Manhattan Project National Historical Park Tennessee, New Mexico, Washington |url=https://www.nps.gov/mapr/upload/MAPR_FD_PRINT.pdf |website=NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR |access-date=20 June 2018 |page=33 |date=January 2017}}

Timeline of major events

class="wikitable"
Year !Date !Event
1943 \|October \| U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breaks ground to build B Reactor{{Citation \|title=Manhattan Project B Reactor: World's first full-scale nuclear reactor \|volume=HNF-41115, Rev. 0 \|date=May 2009 \|publisher=US Department of Energy \|osti=952590 \|last1=Ms \|first1=Gerber}}
1944 \|13 September \| First uranium fuel slug loaded into B Reactor
1944 \|26 September \|Initial reactor criticality achieved
1945 \|3 February \|B Reactor plutonium delivered to Los Alamos
1945 \|16 July \|B Reactor plutonium used in world's first nuclear explosion. (Trinity Test Site, New Mexico)
1945 \|9 August \|B Reactor plutonium used in Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan
1946 \|March \|B Reactor operations suspended
1948 \|June \|B Reactor operation resumed
1949 \|March \|B Reactor begins production of tritium for use in hydrogen bombs
1954 \|1 March \|First use of B Reactor tritium in a test detonation of a hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll{{citation needed\|date=July 2016}}
1968 \|January 29 \|Atomic Energy Commission directs shutdown of B Reactor
1976 \| \|B Reactor declared National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by American Society of Mechanical Engineers
1994 \| \|B Reactor declared National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by American Society of Civil Engineers
2008 \| \|B Reactor declared National Historic Landmark by U.S. Department of Interior and National Park Service
2009 \| \|U.S. Department of Energy announces public tours{{Citation \|title=Manhattan Project B Reactor Tour Information \|date=Feb 14, 2011 \|url=http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/ \|access-date=17 July 2011 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721041032/http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/ \|archive-date=21 July 2011 \|url-status=live}}
2011 \|July \|National Park Service recommends B Reactor be included in a national historic park commemorating the Manhattan Project.
2014 \|December \| 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes B reactor in Manhattan Project National Historical Park
2015 \| 10 November \| Manhattan Project National Historical Park formally established by Memorandum of Agreement

class="wikitable"

Year

!Date

!Event

1943

|October

| U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breaks ground to build B Reactor{{Citation |title=Manhattan Project B Reactor: World's first full-scale nuclear reactor |volume=HNF-41115, Rev. 0 |date=May 2009 |publisher=US Department of Energy |osti=952590 |last1=Ms |first1=Gerber}}

1944

|13 September

| First uranium fuel slug loaded into B Reactor

1944

|26 September

|Initial reactor criticality achieved

1945

|3 February

|B Reactor plutonium delivered to Los Alamos

1945

|16 July

|B Reactor plutonium used in world's first nuclear explosion. (Trinity Test Site, New Mexico)

1945

|9 August

|B Reactor plutonium used in Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan

1946

|March

|B Reactor operations suspended

1948

|June

|B Reactor operation resumed

1949

|March

|B Reactor begins production of tritium for use in hydrogen bombs

1954

|1 March

|First use of B Reactor tritium in a test detonation of a hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

1968

|January 29

|Atomic Energy Commission directs shutdown of B Reactor

1976

|B Reactor declared National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by American Society of Mechanical Engineers

1994

|B Reactor declared National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by American Society of Civil Engineers

2008

|B Reactor declared National Historic Landmark by U.S. Department of Interior and National Park Service

2009

|U.S. Department of Energy announces public tours{{Citation |title=Manhattan Project B Reactor Tour Information |date=Feb 14, 2011 |url=http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/ |access-date=17 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721041032/http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/ |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=live}}

2011

|July

|National Park Service recommends B Reactor be included in a national historic park commemorating the Manhattan Project.

2014

|December

| 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes B reactor in Manhattan Project National Historical Park

2015

| 10 November

| Manhattan Project National Historical Park formally established by Memorandum of Agreement

References

External links

{{HAER |survey=WA-164 |id=wa0703 |title=B Reactor, Richland, Benton County, WA |photos=32 |data=148 |cap=4}}
[http://www.atomicheritage.org/tours/B%20Reactor "Ranger in Your Pocket" online tours] Atomic Heritage Foundation
[http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/hanford-25th-anniversary-celebration Hanford 25th Anniversary Celebration] Video of the 25th anniversary celebration of the construction of B Reactor
[http://www.b-reactor.org/ B Reactor Museum Association] A collection of Hanford-related documents from a group working to preserve the B-100 Reactor at Hanford.
[http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/HanfordSiteTours Hanford Site Tours] – Department of Energy, includes B Reactor

Category:Hanford Site

Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state)

Category:Former nuclear research institutes

Category:Manhattan Project sites

Category:Defunct nuclear reactors

Category:Graphite moderated reactors

Category:Military nuclear reactors

Category:Nuclear reactors in Washington (state)

Category:Buildings and structures in Benton County, Washington

Category:Cold War museums in the United States

Category:Museums in Benton County, Washington

Category:History of physics