Stan Thompson
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Stan Thompson

Document Number WHC-MR-0521 is available to download as a 50 page WordPerfect file

MANUFACTURING PLUTONIUM 

This section of the website displays the main five sections and individual chapters which discusses in some detail how plutonium was manufactured to make the first atomic bomb. Links to go directly to those parts of the process that were related to Stan Thompson's Bismuth-Phosphate separation process are highlighted below in yellow. Additionally, photographs which have been declassified by the United States Government since Gerber's text was written have been added.

PRODUCTION STORY AT THE HANFORD SITE:PROCESSES AND FACILITIES HISTORY

Michele Gerber, Ph.D.

June 1996

ABSTRACT

          This document tells the history of the actual plutonium production process at the Hanford Site.  It contains five major sections:

            •      Fuel Fabrication Processes

            •      Irradiation of Nuclear Fuel

            •      Spent Fuel Handling

            •      Radiochemical Reprocessing of Irradiated Fuel

            •      Finishing Operations

          Within each section, the story of the earliest operations is told, along with changes over time until the end of operations.  Chemical and physical processes are described, along with the facilities where these processes were carried out.  This document is a processes and facilities history.  It does not deal with the waste products of plutonium production.

  If you have already installed Google's free application Google Earth, then you can download Hanford.kmz and open it on your own computer for annotated overlays for actual images of the Hanford facility. If you do not have Google Earth, then click on this icon to download it and install it before you download Hanford.kmz and open the file on your own computer.

                                                               TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0  FUEL FABRICATION PROCESSES     58

1.1  SINGLE PASS REACTOR FUEL FABRICATION 58

1.1.1  Solid Uranium Metal Fuel Produced 58

1.1.2  The Overall Process          59

1.1.3  Canning   60

1.1.4  Canning Tests       61

1.1.5  Additional Chemical and Hazardous Components      62

1.1.6  Process Changes   62

1.1.7  313 Building Expansion Under Eisenhower/Switch to Lead-Dip Process           63

1.1.8  Projection Fuel Elements    64

1.1.9  End of Single-Pass Reactor Fuel Making      64

1.1.10  Other 313/314 Building Processes 65

1.2  N REACTOR FUEL FABRICATION      67

1.2.1  The 333 Fuels Manufacturing Building         67

1.2.2  Co-Extrusion Process         68

1.2.3  Other Processes in the 333 Building            69

1.2.4  The Waste Acid Treatment System (WATS) Process            69

2.0  IRRADIATION PROCESSING AT THE HANFORD SITE           71

2.1  HANFORD'S SINGLE PASS REACTORS          71

2.1.1  Historic Significance of B-Reactor    71

2.1.2  Single-Pass Reactor Buildings         71

2.1.3  Operation of the Single-Pass Reactors         73

2.1.4  Change and Experimentation in Production Process  73

2.1.5  Graphite Expansion Early Problem   74

2.1.6  Increased Power Levels/Production 74

2.1.7  Operating Challenges at Higher Power Levels           75

2.1.8  Reactor Upgrades for Increased Production 77

2.1.9  End of Single-Pass Operations        78

2.2  N REACTOR OPERATIONS   79

2.2.1  105 N Building and Reactor            80

2.2.2  N Reactor Operating Changes and Challenges          81

3.0  SPENT FUEL HANDLING AT THE HANFORD SITE       83

3.1  ORIGINAL LAG STORAGE PRACTICES           83

3.2  212 LAG STORAGE BUILDINGS CLOSE          83

3.3  CLOSURE/RE-OPENING OF FUEL STORAGE BASINS   84

4.0  RADIOCHEMICAL SEPARATIONS PROCESSING       86

4.1  THE BISMUTH-PHOSPHATE PROCESS       86

4.1.1  Start-up of Radiochemical Processing at HEW 86

4.1.2  T, B, and U Process Groups       86

4.1.3  Original Separations Buildings   86

4.1.4  Galleries 87

4.1.5  Canyon  88

4.1.6  Processing Equipment   88

4.1.7  Stair Towers      89

4.1.8  224 Bulk Reduction Buildings    89

4.1.9  231 Isolation Building    90

4.1.10  The Bismuth-Phosphate Process        91

4.1.11  Dissolving        92

4.1.12  Extraction        92

4.1.13  Decontamination         92

4.1.14  224 Bulk Reduction Process    93

4.1.15  231 Isolation Process 93

4.1.16  Earliest Operations     93

4.1.17  Early Process Changes            94

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The Internet is a wonderful vanity press. It is a bully pulpit that costs the author of a website almost nothing. Therefore, it falls on the reader to exercise increased vigilence while browsing websites because the the layers of "editors" and "publishers" have been removed from the information transfer process and so that anybody can say most anything without regard for the facts or truth. This website is no exception. For that reason, I have tried to provide copies of enough of the original materials so that the reader can make his or her own interpretations of the source documents that led me to the conclusions expressed here. 

Last Edited 07/21/15 --Comments to Webmaster