Wow, this tour is AMAZING. It starts with a 15 minute video at the visitor center which explains the background of the geopolitical climate that prompted the construction of the reactor. It is the first large-scale nuclear reactor ever built, taking uranium and converting it into plutonium-239 (used in the Trinity test in New Mexico and the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan). Then there is a 45 minute bus ride to the B reactor itself (try to avail yourself of the restrooms at the visitor center, but there's a tour bus bathroom and port-a-potties at the reactor itself). The bus ride flew by as the docent talked about the area and his own experience as an engineer. Very engrossing. As you enter, there's another short presentation by a docent explaining the physics behind the reactor, and then you're set loose. There are also small docent-led presentations at specified times too if you want to get more into the nitty-gritty of the design and operation of the reactor. I wish I had more time at the reactor, maybe 15 more minutes, since there was so much to see and read. The exhibits were so well done! read more

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Definitely worth a visit, though most of the buildings that once were on the site at the height of Hanford's operations are no longer there. Everything went on schedule as described. The bus is a comfy coach and the 45 minute ride to the actual Reactor B is enlivened by the tour guide's info about the history and geology of the area, as well as providing background on the construction and challenges of putting together the entire site so quickly. Free bottled water is provided at the site, and there's a good mix of short talks by guides (about 15 minutes or so each) and time to walk around, read info on exhibits, and take photos. Visitor Center is clean, with chairs inside for waiting as well as benches outside. Because we'd driven almost 3 hours to the site, we took advantage of a shady bench to have our lunch. The timing of the 11:45am tour means you'll want to get something to eat before setting off, because you won't return to the Visitor Center for about 4 hours (and there is no food to purchase at the Center, and no food allowed inside the Reactor B building). There is, however, a place to eat next door to the Visitor Center (The Dive) where I can at least confirm that the beer and onion rings are excellent. We got lucky and had a relatively cool (80 degrees) day. Bathrooms at the actual park site (the reactor) are limited to portable toilets, but again, all the info presented from registration to the actual tour were clear, informative, and well done. read more

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Man, what a little slice of fried gold. They had a movie, a bunch of historical photos, and even a fucking Geiger counter that I could wave around to test the radioactivity of things! Turns out, they had some radioactive shit Imin there! Not scary at all! The highlight was definitely the family restroom, though. Clean, smelled faintly of Lysol, great place to take a shit. 5/5 would dump here again. read more

Manhattan Project B Reactor Tours - Gieger counter. - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Richland, Washington

A significant piece of American and regional history. Getting the tour and listening to the story is a great way to gain an appreciation for what was accomplished in such a short period of time. read more

It starts with self guided tour as everyone checks in. There is a video that is about 15 minutes. Then the docent goes over the geography of the plants, logistics of planning, and the logistics of the tour. I see a few problems with the video. 1. The video states, in 1943 settlers and natives were removed from Hanford. There were NO settlers in the USA in 1943. By using the word settlers versus residents, it makes it sound like people who were living there were there illegally based on US laws. Also, where were indigenous people forcibly moved to? According to the video, there was a 30 day move notice. That's horrendous. 2. There's also a sexist joke about termination winds: there is so much wind that blows sand around and wives get upset about the dust clean up that they tell their husbands working in the project that they are done. This is a remnant of patriarchy, true or not true. Those two points are problematic. A bit of the science: Uranium 238 is not radioactive. It is 99% of Uranium 235 is radio active, with a Geiger counter. Has neurons that come out and move at the speed of light. Somehow these are slowed down and cut. When this happens neutrons move into Uranium 238 and creates Uranium 239. Whoa. Then it can't stay in the nucleus and it is called Neptunium. Transmutated into Plutonium. What's interesting historically is that 1) we CREATED Uranium 239, Neptunium and Plutonium, 2) the new elements are named after the newly discovered planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (Pluto, now we know, is not a planet). The process of creating these was called metallurgy. Bring critical mass together quickly then it creates fission at the speed of light. That's what makes it explosive. The core of engineers were from Manhattan. At one point there were 45,000 employees. Historically and scientifically, it's an interesting trip, if not a little outdated material in the educational materials. read more

Getting on the list for this tour is exclusive. I thought a shmuck like me would never have a chance, but cancellations, oh you lovely cancellations, made me feel like a high roller. So yeah, whenever a tour opens up for a tour of the Manhattan Project's B-Reactor the limited seats sell out faster than a Stone Roses concert in 1989. But just like a Roses concert, I was able to finagle a seat. The tour starts off at the B-Reactor outreach center just off the SR240 as you're heading out of Richland to Vantage. This center alone serves as a wealth of information about the Hanford site and the B-Reactor. Ooops, there. I said it: Hanford. Yes, the B-Reactor at its root is an example of what dedicated and true science can accomplish when focus and freedom from government regulation are the engine of the project. The philosophical debate about the pluses & minuses of using "the bomb" in WWII is for historians. The conundrum about how to handle the nuclear waste generated on the Hanford site from this dastardly & polluting process has yet to be dealt with. I just want to talk about the tour. This tour is awesome. You step back to a different time when you enter the outreach center. There are photos of the citizens of the now long gone townsite of Hanford. There are also images of the Native Americans who lived & fished in the area. I can get lost in black & white photographs. It's amazing to think about how people lived here only ~70years ago. Show up early for your tour. You get a number as you arrive. The lower numbers get dibs on the better seats on the bus. Now if you're on the bus, I'd say do your best to sit on the right side of the bus--on this side you get the better views during the drive around the site. During the drive, we had an excellent tour guides (Jerry & Dimple) who have and are working on the Hanford site. As we drove through the different areas of Hanford, they gave information and answered questions (to the best of their ability) about the different sites. Now, they couldn't answer all questions, and the security reasons for this are apparent. As we entered Hanford proper, we passed through a gate manned by armed guards & menacing dogs. We were also not allowed to bring phones or cameras. Hanford is still a facility which requires heavy security. So yes, no questions about specifics regarding generating nuclear fuel generation. I've lived & worked near the Hanford site for many years, but its always seemed like a mystical and mysterious place. With names like the B-Reactor, 100 Area, ERDF, & Fast Flux Test Facility, Hanford always seemed like another world---a world I was ignorant of. This tour helped to remedy my ignorance. The drive alone was worth the price of admission (which was FREE!). But as we drove along the Hanford Reach and marveled at a place where time seems to have froze, it all worked its way up to the star of the tour: B-Reactor. This scruffy looking structure just off of the Columbia River was amazing. It was constructed in a flash. The physics and engineering behind it are caveman-esque by today's standards, but in the 1940s it was a marvel of science. The teams of scientists, engineers, machinists, operators, and construction workers made a facility which was the ultimate "science project". This was by far the best part of the entire tour. Well, I should mention the bathroom. Yes, here you will find one of the finest porta-potties you'll ever see. They're air-conditioned. They have art on the wall. There is even a pot of flowers (albeit fake). Do make a pitstop at the portapotty. After the B-Reactor the tour makes stops at a few of the other projects going on at Hanford---these projects are all related to how we deal with the deadly waste generated by the Hanford site. Waste generations will have to deal with....in other words, this portion of the tour isn't as interesting. So yeah, my only gripe about the tour is that you can't take photographs or document anything---something I like to do when I go on tours, hikes, nights out on the town, etc. But that's ok, they do have good reasons. If you are lucky enough to be one of the few to get in on the tour, do so. You won't regret it. read more

Manhattan Project B Reactor Tours - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Richland, Washington

I happened to be in Richland, Washington, on business - a week long class for my Army job on radiochemistry (yes, I know that sounds very exciting for all of you readers...). What better way to spend half a day of our class than to visit the B Reactor at the Hanford Site. For those of you who do not know, the B Reactor is the first full scale nuclear reactor in the world. It was fueled with uranium (made out at Oak Ridge National Labs) to make plutonium - the very plutonium that was used in Little Boy. The tours are fairly new, and only offered at certain times of the year. I am not sure if that will change in the future. Though they are free, you do need to register in advance, and when I checked today, they were already booked for the rest of the year (50 dates total in 2010). They don't maintain a waiting list (which I think is a mistake) but you can check back for cancellations. Since the guy teaching our class knows the Hanford folks, he got the eight army folks in my class in on the tour today. How cool. It's about a 45 minute drive from Richland, WA to the reactor. Transportation is provided in a very comfy coach bus. The tour lasts about 2 - 2.5 hours on site, with some guided tour parts and some time to explore. It's a fairly new museum, so they are still developing the exhibits (aside from the massive reactor and stuff!). Am sure it will improve over time. Still, I think it was a worthwhile trip. Stay inside the marked areas, as there are still some contaminated areas on site (but they are very safe - don't worry!). Have fun. Check out the Trinity Site (http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=351&ResourceType=District) next on your tour of Atomic History. read more

Manhattan Project B Reactor Tours - B Reactor - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Richland, Washington

The tour was very impresive. I'm not a nuclear power proponent and would have never make it there if not our son who was interested. But I'm glad I went, I learned a lot. Tour is long (4 hrs) and it hold more interest for those who interested in engineering, physics and WWII history. If you are one of them, it is a really incredible testament to ingenuity of engineering, creating first in the world nuclear power in an incredibly short amount of time, coordinating millions of factors on brand new not tested technology. All of that without the use of electronics and computers. The fact that it was pulled off, it was an incredible technical feat. It was also good to confront for a pacifist like me, the dilemmas that war presents. Especially when each choice includes destruction and killing or allowing that by not taking action. The tour did not go into it but it's hard to tour the B Reactor where plutonium for A bomb was created and not wonder about it. At the same time, hear the perspective of those who build it and didn't even know what they were building. I am definitely glad that this reactor was preserved, it's an incredibly important part of teaching history. BTW, since tour is 10:30pm till 2 pm, bring some sandwiches or smg to eat as the is nothing absolve at the site. read more

Manhattan Project B Reactor Tours - Outside - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Richland, Washington

This was an incredible 4-hour tour. The tour guides are so knowledgeable and going in B Reactor is impressive. The tour does a great job of combining videos, tour guide talks, and free time to explore. read more

This was an excellent adventure back in time. The magnitude of what was accomplished in the time it took is mind blowing! The docents are great with the more or less scripted descriptions, you can take pictures, walk through each of the various areas, they have video displays at various points, equipment, logs, and tools on display, but the best part for me was to get the docents going on a side topic (ask about the pears at the emigres farm, or the visitors taking micrometer measurements of the open valve covers). Tour was four hours from the visitor center and back, the bus was a about 45 min or so each way. Highly recommended if you can take two hours in an industrial factory. Best of all it was free. read more

Absolutely awesome tour! We did the site tour today and were amazed at the size and scope of the operation. The tour barely scratched the surface but was loaded with great information! We're on the list for the more focused B Reactor Tour later this year as well... Can't wait! :) There are only a limited # of tours offered each year so grab a spot when you can! read more

For those of you who don't know, located in south-central Washington, the Hanford Engineer Works was established in 1943 and was home to the B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production facility in the world - the forge that produced the nuclear bomb detonated at Trinity and the bomb detonated over Nagasaki. During the Cold War, Hanford was expanded to nine nuclear reactors and five large plutonium processing complexes, producing most of the weapons grade plutonium for the United States arsenal. However, progress and science outpaced morality and safety concerns leaving behind millions of gallons high-level radioactive waste and millions of tons of solid radioactive waste in their wake. Fun huh? Okay, let us get this right out of the way - you are in fact touring a toxic waste dump with leaking radioactivity and hazardous material everywhere. Mind you, they don't let you wander about unsupervised, and it's perfectly safe. Still, anyone with a history of health issues in one's family - cancer and the like - would probably be best served giving this a miss. That said, it's a pretty damn cool tour. There are two tours - one that just covers the Reactor B site, where the Manhattan Project was forged, and one that covers the entire Hanford site (including the B Reactor), through the ghost town of Hanford and White Bluffs, an orchard that was snapped up by the government for The War Effort, past nuclear reactors in various stages of disassembly, near one the Hanford's tank farms, where the 53 million gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste is stored in 177 underground tanks. Oh, did I mention that sixty seven of them are known to have leaked? Eventually the tour winds up at a mock-up tank, where the guide goes on about the cleanup and conservation efforts - actually fairly interesting and put in a laymen's terms sort of way. In short they're converting the tank waste into a stable glass product and the groundwater is purified. From there, the tour visits the B-Reactor itself, a real life slice of cold war. They'll let you wander about the control rooms and storage areas, sit in the chairs pretending to SCRAM the reactor (Wear a tie so you look appropriately 50's) and so on. The technical side of the site is fine, but this is the really cool bit. If you take just the Reactor B tour, they will permit photos - but on the main tour, phones and lunch and cameras are forbidden. Hanford isn't a theme park. There are no gift shops, no tourist center, and frankly it's a hard look at governmental cold war paranoia (and the - ahem - fallout from) and human hubris - but getting a peek behind the scenes is fascinating. Take the long tour if you have no interest in photography, take the short one if you want a rare opportunity to shoot in a time capsule. Me, I'd take both in a hot second. read more

A very informative tour. I learned a lot about the early tri-cities years on the tour. The tour guide, who I can't remember his name was a very nice gentlemen. The HANFORD workers are doing a very important job in the cleanup project. read more

This was a great tour! We recently moved to the area and are working as part of the clean-up effort on the Hanford site so it was nice to learn about the history of what we are cleaning up. The tour is free but you need to make sure to sign up for a seat early otherwise they will all be gone. It starts with about a 45 minute bus ride which is followed by the tour (about 2-3 hours). The guides were very informative and helpful in answering questions. Its awesome that this is available and a great way to learn about local history, I recommend it to any locals as well as visitors to the tri-cities! read more