 |
The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. "Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project" |
|
| Home | Site Map | Contact Us | Feedback | Mission |
Manhattan Project History
Hanford Engineer Works (Hanford, WA)
Site "W"
The Giant "Piles" at Hanford
|
As stated previously, there were to be three nuclear reactors (Piles) built at Hanford. They were to be designated as Piles B, D and F. Groundbreaking for the water-cooling plant for the 100-B pile, the westernmost of the three, took place on August 27, 1943, less than two weeks before Italy's surrender to the Allies. Work on the pile itself began in February 1944, with the base and shield being completed by mid-May. It took another month to place the graphite pile and install the top shield and two more months to wire and pipe the pile and connect it to the various monitoring and remote control devices. Once operational, uranium slugs, produced at a nearby facility, would drop into water pools behind the 100-B Pile after being irradiated. From these pools, the highly-radioactive slugs would be moved by remote-controlled rail cars to a storage facility five miles away. Next they would make their way to their final destination at one of the two enormous chemical separation locations, designated 200-West and 200-East. 200-West was comprised of two separation facilities, the T and U units, while a single plant, the B unit, made up the 200-East complex. (A planned fourth separation plant at 200-East was never built). With the abandonment of the "plutonium gun bomb" in July 1944, planning at Hanford became much more complicated. Pile 100-B was almost complete, as was the first chemical separation plant (T Unit), while Pile D was at the halfway point. Pile F was not yet under construction. If the newly theoretical implosion devices using plutonium could be developed at Los Alamos, the three piles would probably produce enough plutonium for the weapons required, but as yet no one was sure of the amount needed. Excitement mounted at Hanford as the date for pile start-up approached. Enrico Fermi placed the first uranium slug in pile 100-B on September 13, 1944. Final checks on the pile had been uneventful. The scientists could only hope that they were accurate, since once the pile was operational the intense radioactivity would make maintenance of many components impossible. Loading slugs and taking measurements took a full two weeks. From just after midnight until approximately 3:00 a.m. on September 27, the pile ran without incident at a power level higher than any previous chain reaction (though only at a fraction of design capacity). The operators were elated, but their excitement turned to astonishment when the power level began falling after three hours. It fell continuously until the pile ceased operating entirely on the evening of the 28th. By the next morning the reaction began again, reached the previous day's level, then dropped.
|
IF
YOU SEE A YELLOW "ENTER" BUTTON ABOVE, PLEASE DO NOT "CLICK" ON IT.
THIS WILL TAKE YOU TO A GAMBLING SITE WHICH WAS ADDED TO OUR WEB SITE
WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION!
This web site is growing by 150 pages per month - Click
