(105-B Building) Hanford Site Richland Vicinity Benton County Washington
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B REACTOR HAER No. WA-164 (105-B Building) Hanford Site Richland vicinity Benton County Washington PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD COLUMBIA CASCADES SUPPORT OFFICE National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior 909 First Avenue Seattle, WA 98104-1060 HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD B REACTOR (105-B BUILDING) HAER No. WA-164 Location: Approximately 45 miles NW of Richland, Washington, on the Hanford Site in Benton County. Sec. 11, R 25 E, T 13 N. Latitude/Longitude: 46 ° 38 'N, 119 ° 39' E (Washington State) UTM Reference: Zone 11 E 297440 N 5167287 Date of Construction: 1943-1944 Design: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co, Inc., Crawford H. Greenewalt, Technical Division Metallurgical Laboratory, Enrico Fermi, Nuclear Physics Division Builder: United States Army Corps of Engineers General Leslie R. Groves, Chief of Manhattan Project Colonel Franklin T. Matthias, Hanford Engineer Works Commander, Army Corps of Engineers E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Inc. Frank Mackie, Manager Construction Division G.P. Church, Construction Manager at Hanford Present Owner: United States Department of Energy (DOE) Present Use: Deactivated 1968; currently part-time museum Significance: The B Reactor (the 105-B building at the Hanford Site) was the world's first production scale nuclear reactor. It was rushed into construction during the height of WW II as part of the Manhattan Project, the urgent effort by the United States to create an atomic bomb before one could be built, it was feared, by Germany. The design for the reactor leaped from an extremely slender volume of research, most of which was barely a year old. In spite of the unproven technology and wartime constraints, the reactor was constructed and taken to criticality with complete success, all within a single year. In the first nine months of operation, it produced fissionable material (plutonium) for the world's first atomic bomb, the Trinity test in July 1945, and for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, which hastened the end of World War II. The reactor was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Report Prepared By: B Reactor Museum Association, PO Box 1531, Richland, WA, 993 52 Gene Weisskopf, Project Coordinator Phone: 509-946-1316; e-mail: [email protected] Date: December 2000 BREACTOR HANFORD SITE HAER No. WA-164 Page2 Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Foreword ............................................................................................................................................... 8 1. The Manhattan Project. ................................................................................................................... 10 1.1. World War and the Prospects of an Atomic Bomb ................................................................. 10 1.2. War Comes to the United States .............................................................................................. 11 1.3. The Hanford Engineer Works .................................................................................................. 11 2. Reactor Construction ...................................................................................................................... 13 2.1. Worker Recruiting ................................................................................................................... 13 2.2. Job Priorities ............................................................................................................................ 15 2.3. Security During Construction .................................................................................................. 16 2.4. The Origins of the A Reactor ................................................................................................... 17 2.5. Site Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 18 2.6. The 105-B Building ................................................................................................................. 18 2.6.1. Quantities of Materials Used in 105-B ............................................................................. 19 2.6.2. What's a "Scram"? ........................................................................................................... 20 2.7. The Pile .................................................................................................................................... 20 2.7.1. Foundation, Base Plate, and Bottom Shield ..................................................................... 21 2.7.2. Shielding ........................................................................................................................... 22 2.7.2.1. Thermal Shield .......................................................................................................... 22 2.7.2.2. Biological Shield ....................................................................................................... 23 2.7.3. Graphite ............................................................................................................................ 24 2.7.3.1. Manufacturing the Graphite ....................................................................................... 24 2.7.3.2. Milling the Graphite Blocks ...................................................................................... 25 2. 7.3 .3. Laying the Graphite Blocks ....................................................................................... 27 2.7.4. Process Tubes for Fuel and Coolant ................................................................................. 30 2.7.4.1. Process Tube Configuration ...................................................................................... 30 2.7.4.2. Process Tube Components ......................................................................................... 31 2.7.4.3. The Fuel Column ....................................................................................................... 32 2.7.5. Atmosphere ....................................................................................................................... 34 2.7.5.1. Helium Circulation .................................................................................................... 34 2.7.5.2. Helium Drying and Purification ................................................................................ 35 2.8. Fuel Charging and Discharging Facilities ............................................................................... 36 2.8.1. Front Face ......................................................................................................................... 36 2.8.2. Rear Face .......................................................................................................................... 36 2.8.3. Discharge Equipment ....................................................................................................... 37 2.8.4. Fuel Storage Basin ............................................................................................................ 38 2.8.5. Fuel Transfer Area ............................................................................................................ 39 2.9. Cooling System ........................................................................................................................ 39 2.9.1. Cooling Capacity .............................................................................................................. 40 2.9.2. Columbia River ................................................................................................................. 41 2.9.3. Primary Pumping and Treatment Facilities ...................................................................... 41 2.9.3.1. 181-B River Pump House .......................................................................................... 42 BREACTOR HANFORD SITE HAER No. W A-164 Page3 2.9.3.2. 182-B Reservoir and Pump House ............................................................................ 43 2.9.3.3. 183-B Filter Plant ...................................................................................................... 43 2.9.3.4. 185-B Deaeration Facility .......................................................................................... 43 2.9.3.5. 190-B Process Pump House ....................................................................................... 44 2.9.3.6. 105-B Process Unit .................................................................................................... 44 2.9.3.7. Effluent Water ........................................................................................................... 45 2.9.3.8. 107-B Retention Basin ............................................................................................... 45 2.9.4. Backup Cooling Systems .................................................................................................. 45 2.9.5. 184-B Power House .......................................................................................................... 46 2.10. Control Mechanisms (Rods) .................................................................................................. 46 2.10.1. Horizontal Control Rods ................................................................................................