History of Hanford Site Defense Production (Brief)

Conference · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2001

OSTI ID:805998

GERBER, M S ^[1]

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1. FH

This paper acquaints the audience with the history of the Hanford Site, America's first full-scale defense plutonium production site. The paper includes the founding and basic operating history of the Hanford Site, including World War II construction and operations, three major postwar expansions (1947-55), the peak years of production (1956-63), production phase downs (1964-the present), a brief production spurt from 1984-86, the end of the Cold War, and the beginning of the waste cleanup mission. The paper also delineates historical waste practices and policies as they changed over the years at the Hanford Site, past efforts to chemically treat, ''fractionate,'' and/or immobilize Hanford's wastes, and resulting major waste legacies that remain today. This paper presents original, primary-source research into the waste history of the Hanford Site. Finally, the paper places the current Hanford Site waste remediation endeavors in the broad context of American and world history.

• Research Organization: FH (US); Hanford Site (HNF), Richland, WA (United States); Albany Research Center (ARC), Albany, OR (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-96RL13200
• OSTI ID: 805998
• Report Number(s): HNF-5041-FP, Rev.0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
HANFORD PRODUCTION REACTORS
HANFORD RESERVATION
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
REMEDIAL ACTION