| rdfs:comment | - 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.
- The Hanford Nuclear Reservation was once the place where uranium ore was refined and purified and used to build warheads for nuclear weapons. Picture, forty years ago, Black Spiral Dancers lurching madly up and down narrow mountain roads in trucks filled with radioactive waste. In the past decade, now that the nuclear arms race has stopped escalating, these activities have ground to a halt. But with its rich history of nuclear research, the site is still in use with several nuclear power facilities and research stations.
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| abstract | - 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 was 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 many notable technological achievements. Many of the early safety procedures and waste disposal practices were inadequate, and government documents have since confirmed that Hanford's operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials into the air and the Columbia River, which still threatens the health of residents and ecosystems. The weapons production reactors were decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, but the decades of manufacturing left behind of high-level radioactive waste, an additional of solid radioactive waste, of contaminated groundwater beneath the site and occasional discoveries of undocumented contaminations that slow the pace and raise the cost of cleanup. The Hanford site represents two-thirds of the nation's high-level radioactive waste by volume. Hanford is currently the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States and is the focus of the nation's largest environmental cleanup. While most of the current activity at the site is related to the cleanup project, Hanford also hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station, and various centers for scientific research and development, such as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the LIGO Hanford Observatory.
- The Hanford Nuclear Reservation was once the place where uranium ore was refined and purified and used to build warheads for nuclear weapons. Picture, forty years ago, Black Spiral Dancers lurching madly up and down narrow mountain roads in trucks filled with radioactive waste. In the past decade, now that the nuclear arms race has stopped escalating, these activities have ground to a halt. But with its rich history of nuclear research, the site is still in use with several nuclear power facilities and research stations. In this World of Darkness, the corporations that are found on the Hanford Site operate behind many, many layers of indirection and misdirection. The site is government-run, making it difficult to discern who actually pulls the strings for the corporations or the bureacracy they hide behind. And, more importantly, difficult to understand what their real agenda is. But, along with ongoing research activities into unknown areas of science, there is a real push to clean up the old nuclear facilities that have polluted the area for decades. If there is a hidden agenda, it is clear that there is at least more than one guiding hand placing conflicting items on that agenda. In the late 90s, the site was temporarily reclaimed and the Caern of the Last Days was founded. Unfortunately this victory was short-lived, and Last Days fell to Black Spiral Dancers in mid 2000s. The site was thoroughly scouted as part of Jacinta Oncoming-Storm's Adren Challenge to Kaz Ears-to-the-Ground, and a battle ensued to cleanse the area of some of its more powerful banes.
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