Hanford Site

Coordinates: 46°38′51″N 119°35′55″W / 46.64750°N 119.59861°W / 46.64750; -119.59861

The Hanford Site is a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. The site has been known by many names, including: Hanford Project, Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works or HEW and Hanford Nuclear Reservation or HNR. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project in the town of Hanford in south-central Washington, the site was home to the B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site, and in Fat Man, the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan.

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 60,000 weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.Nuclear technology developed rapidly during this period, and Hanford scientists produced notable technological achievements. Many early safety procedures and waste disposal practices were inadequate in hindsight, and government documents have confirmed that Hanford's operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials into the air and the Columbia River.