n reactor time line

N-Reactor Time Line1956-2014

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The N-Reactor

Hanford’s 9th Process Reactor in use Dec. 31. 1963-1987 will be unlike the earlier models

Columbia river, light water cooled,

Uranium fueled

Recirculated primary coolant

water

No Containment dome

Higher temperature and pressure

Similarities Differences


June 29 , 1956

Bill introduced by Senator Henry M. Jackson to allow AEC to negotiate an exchange of power to be produced at Hanford by a new reactor. Avoiding direct government participation in the electricity market.

Sen. Henry M. Jackson, D-WA


Jackson’s ProposalDual use reactor for both Plutonium & power production.“Atomic Bank” to stockpile Plutonium.Accelerate civilian atomic powerCounter projected power shortagesKilled in the House July 24, 1956


The Opposition“I do not believe the AEC has anymore business to be engaged in the production of power on a major scale then the Civil Aviation Board has to be in the business of manufacturing airplanes.”

Sen. Bourke B. Hickenlooper, R-IARep. James Van Zandt R-PA

Sen. Hickenlooper


Joint Committee on Atomic Energy

A United States congressional committee tasked with exclusive jurisdiction over “all bills, resolutions, and other matters” related to civilian and material aspects of nuclear power from 1946 through 1977.

JCAE comes out in support of increased Plutonium production in 1957


Government PowerTennessee Valley Authority: Largest government regional planing initiative in the United States.Founded in 1933.Today has 11 coal fired plants, 29 hydroelectric dams, 6 operating nuclear reactors, 14 gas turbine plants.

FDR signs bill authorizing TVA


Washington Public Power Supply System

A United States public power agency formed by State law in 1957 to produce power at-cost for Northwest UtilitiesRe-named Energy Northwest in 19981983 Second largest default in US history; $2.25 billion


Economy Falters in the United StatesBonneville Power Administration a federal agency based in the Pacific Northwest

Created by Congress in 1937

Markets electricity provided by Dams on the Columbia River

Distributing power from the New Process Reactor over government owned power lines

In 1957 BPA’s growth was beginning an unexpected decline

0

5

10

15

20

1956 1957

Energy Sales Revenue


Sputnik CrisisUSSR orbits first artificial Earth satellite.Launched October 4, 1957.Part of the Cold-War Sputnik inaugurates the Space Race.

Sputnik-1 Replica

Competition between the US and USSR spirals


Cold War between US and USSR

US and USSR Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles

Big Three at Yalta 1945;Churchill, FDR, Stalin


Hanford New Process Reactor Approved

1958Plutonium production onlyConvertible to Power production at a future time with Congressional approval.


New Process Reactor Construction Begins

$125 million for GE designed reactor$25 million features for later power conversionIncludes Burns & Roe Steam Generators


John F. Kennedy electedGlenn T. Seaborg, advocate of nuclear power, appointed chair of the Atomic Energy CommissionDemocrats on the JCAE make a new attempt to authorize the use of built in convertibility of New Process Reactor.JFK indicates support for NPR conversion in 1961


NPR Conversion Bill Reintroduced 1961

Coal industry and private Utilities oppose NPR power conversionRep. Van Zandt Amendment to kill NPR passes July 1961Rep. Van Zandt “instructs” House conferees killing the bill August 8, 1961


WPPSS to fund & own steam power at NPRFormal proposal from WPPSS to Seaborg for State funding of conversionFinanced by $130 million in revenue bonds sold by the StateSells electricity to Bonneville Power AdministrationSale of power to bring in $31-125 million depending on Pu production needs


WPPSS BondsBasic Construction $95 millionInterest on Bonds $10.5 millionReserves $9 millionOther costs $13.5 millionTotal $128 million


Congress Weighs InHouse Appropriations Public Works subcommittee hearings April 1962.JCAE Hearings July 10, 11, 1962Sen. Jackson adds a clause to offer half of NPR power to private power companies. Jackson says it’s the “only way to save Hanford.”


A Hidden Subsidy

Opponents claim the promise to supply power to private companies in the northwest is a “hidden subsidy.” House opens debate on July 17, 1962Biggest lobbying blitz until the ill fated Super Sonic Transport in the 1970s


NPR Power AuthorizedHouse votes to authorize Sept. 14, 1962Senate approves conference report JFK signs AEC bill on September 26, 1962

President John F. Kennedy signs the bill authorizing NPR power conversion


Heat Transfer Systemby Burns & Roe

Founded in New York City in 1932Designs complex technical facilitiesRalph C. Roe founder designed power plantsKenneth A. Roe, son enlisted in the Navy 1941

Kenneth A. Roe

Ralph Coates Roe


Kenneth A. Roe 1916-1991

Kenneth A. Roe studied Naval architecture at Naval Postgraduate School

Assigned to Philadelphia Navy Yard in WWII designing gun turrets - promoted to Lt. Commander

Personal Assistant to Admiral Hyman G. Rickover “Father of the Nuclear Navy”

President of Burns & Roe in 1963, CEO 1971


Burns & Roe Projects 1950s

Semi-Automatic Ground Environmental (SAGE) air-warning network system

1953 “The Big Board”

Air Force BOMARC Launching Shelters 1955

NASA Telstar Earth Station 1958

Prototype “Hard” Nike-Zeus Anti-Missile System

Facilities1958-61


Burns & Roe Projects ‘60s-80s

Combined desalination and electric power plant

Guantanamo Naval Base, Point Loma, Gitmo, Cuba

1964

Hydroballistic Facility U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory ca. 1966

High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility

White Sands Missile Range, NM ca. 1980


Owen Hurd of WPPSS on Burns & Roe

Burns & Roe is written into the contract for the

New Process Reactor


Charles F. Luce of BPA on Burns & Roe

Rep. Craig Hosner, R-CA

Luce went on to head Con Edison in NYC


Designated Contractor


Doubts in Congress

September 1962


Early Hanford Reactors are “single-pass”

Graphite moderated design cooled by Columbia River water that is returned to the river after treatment


Single-pass storyFirst Hanford reactor “B” made plutonium for Trinity test and Nagasaki Radioactive waste pollutes the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean.

Weapons reactors are closed permanently by 1971.


Single-Pass ReactorsReactor Operational Image

B 1944-1968D 1944-1967

F 1945-1965

H 1949-1965DR 1950-1964

C 1952-1969

KW 1955-1971

KE 1955-1971


N-Reactor 1963-1987

N-Reactor was a graphite/water-moderated nuclear reactor built during the Cold War and operated by the

U.S. at the Hanford Site in Washington.


Graphite Moderateddual pass reactor

The only Hanford reactor with a primary cooling system re-circulating

pressurized water through the reactor and heat exchangers where a

secondary system linked to the river generated steam to

run electrical generating turbines. This reduced heat and radioactivity releases

into the Columbia River over the first 8 reactors at

Hanford.

Graphite reactor similar to the ill fated Chernobyl reactor except a with design feature to cause power levels to automatically go down in case of a coolant loss. Called a “negative void” unlike the Soviet reactor

where power actually increased out of control as the coolant boiled away during the accident.


Ninth Defense ReactorWorld’s Largest Operating Nuclear Power Plant in the 1960s

Reactor Core 39’5” high, 33’ wide

1800 tons of high grade graphite

1,004 process channels for loading fuel

Cooling provided by up to 1,500 gallons of treated river water per minute (a huge decrease from requirements of earlier Hanford reactors of up to 105,000 gallons per minute

Demolition Exposes the Reactor to view in 2009


Why the N-Reactor?

From a GE brochure circa 1963Wednesday, March 19, 2014

What’s so special?


Credits


N-Reactor’sProud Fathers

Senator Henry M. Jackson and AEC Chairman Glenn T. Seaborg visit N-Reactor. Seaborg discovered Plutonium. Fourth from the

left is Raymond L. Dickeman director of the N-Reactor in the 60s.Wednesday, March 19, 2014

N-Reactor TourFront face of N-Reactor Process

Tubes

Uranium slugs clad in Zirconium go into

the reactor here

N-Reactor Control Console

Operators run the reactor from here

Storage for irradiated fuel at

the N-Reactor

Fuel is held under 20’ of water before

extraction of Plutonium


HTTP://WWW.HSS.ENERGY.GOV/HEALTHSAFETY/OHRE/ROADMAP/ROADMAP/PART3.HTML

HS-2. Intentional Release of Iodine-131 at Hanford in 1963In July 1963, Hanford Laboratory conducted a study that involved the release of 120 microcuries of iodine-131 (I131) into the environment. These releases were designed to characterize the dispersion of radiation to the environment. The purpose of the experiment was to enable scientists to study how the radioactive iodine spread in turn through the air, soil, and vegetation, and how it affected animals. Two volunteer human subjects (Hanford employees), were stationed in the expected path of the radiation cloud. These subjects intentionally inhaled I131 from the release and were subsequently measured for thyroidal uptake of I131. These experiments were performed under contract with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

As Experiments Get Out of Hand with another intentional release of radioactive Iodine at Hanford


President John F. Kennedy Breaks Ground

Radioactive wand signals start of construction


Underground piping for N-Reactor connecting Heat Exchangers with Power Turbines

Dual Purpose


Heat Exchangers Leak 1963^

Five of the early commercial nuclear power stations were built with stainless steel steam generators. These include... the Hanford "N"-reactor... Sensitization of the stainless steel tubing during heat treatment of the carbon steel tube sheets led to stress corrosion cracking and leakage in the "N"-reactor... during the pre-operational hydraulic pressure tests. The steam generators... were re-tubed prior to startup, the "N"-reactor with Inconel-600.

^Steam Generators are heat exchangers designed for nuclear power plants


N-Reactor Steam Generators

Combustion Engineering, Inc.


Anatomy of a LeakLeaks were discovered in heat exchangers including Unit A in cell 4, known as 4A. Studies

released under the FOIA show extensive studies of the problem

led by General Electric Corp..


Intergranular Corrosion at the heart of leaks

Microscopic view of corrosion

Typical areas effected by corrosion of stainless steel


Replacement!

Estimated Replacement cost $1 million ($8 million today)


Re-tubing of steam generators in 1964

Payroll Files SignatureRoute to: Number T___cation Route Date and Date

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UNCI_SSIFIED HW-80559Z

Preparation Performance• Scheduled Actual Scheduled Actual

_Is _nth 98.5% 92.l% 4z.o%* 39.8%• z_stMouth 96.5_ 85.3% 56.5%_* 27.5%

*Based. on NED Integrated Sequence Schedule - NRD Testing P_gramdated J'_. 31, 1964. , - •

**Based on original target schedule.

Steam Generatorsi

The existing stainless steel tubing is now being removed from steam generatorunit 4A. The north head of the secondary vessel has been cut from the unit toprovide access to the interior. Replacement tubing panels of Inconel arescheduled to arrive on site about May 1, 1964. Repair of steam generator unit4A is scheduled for completion about August 15, 196_.

Subsequent to c_pletion of repair of ,.steam generator unit 4A_ testing andcompletion of construction of cell 4 equipment will require approximately sixweeks. Cell _ is expected to be ready for operatlonal servlce by October i,196_.

UN_IFIEDD-T

.. _ .


Steam Generator GutsTubes are to be re-welded

General design of a steam generator. Originally the tubes were made of corrosion prone stainless steel. Somehow the

corrosion causing element chlorine was introduced into these tubes.


Atomic Energy Act 1954

Exempts government weapons plants from public scrutiny and environmental regulations which commercial plants are subject.

If N-Reactor was subject to EPA & NRC regulations it would not be allowed to operate.

Strontium 90 releases while better than previous Hanford reactors exceeded allowed levels for commercial reactors.


Dichlorobenzene

Why would 1,4 Dichlorobenzene commonly known as mothballs, a known corrosive to stainless steel be introduced to the Plutonium processing side of the reactor?


Chlorine (Cl) The graphite used as a neutron moderating material in the plutonium producing reactors in the 100 area of the Hanford Site was treated with chlorine gas at high temperatures to remove the impurity boron (which is a good neutron absorber). A small amount of chlorine remained in the graphite that was charged to the nuclear reactors. When a fissile nuclide such as an atom of uranium-235 fissions, it generally splits asymmetrically into two large fragments – fission products with mass numbers in the range of about 90 and 140 – and two or three neutrons. (The mass number is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of the atom.) These neutrons can cause additional fissions (producing a chain reaction), escape from the reactor, or irradiate nearby materials. The chlorine-35 remaining in the graphite moderator absorbed neutrons to become chlorine-36. Thus, chlorine-36 is present in the graphite moderator of these shutdown reactors and in certain wastes associated with previous reactor operations as well as in wastes from ongoing decommissioning activities, including spent graphite. -Argonne National Laboratory, Human Health Fact Sheet, August 2005

Atomic number 17Atomic weight 35

Naturally occurring isotope Cl-36


Inconel Nickel-Iron Alloy

An alternative to standard (Type 304) stainless steel was available. The alloy is called Inconel produced in 1963 by Inco


Chloride Stress Corrosion Cracking

1959 study shows that Inconel resists “chloride stress corrosion cracking” in boiling secondary coolant. In similar situations Type 304 stainless steel quickly failed.


Top SecretSecrecy Shielded the process

Steve had security clearance worked on the N Reactor.

Unreported reactor experiments caused scrams.

Engineers working on the steam generators lacked security clearance.

Steve Buckingham, 91 leads tours at the T-Plant


Barrier between the cleared and uncleared

Security clearance

needed to run plutonium producing defense reactor

Workers building the

steam generation plant don’t

have crucial information on reactor operations

Fundamental flaw was the l e g a l s e p a r a t i o n o f classified and unclassified areas of the reactor.

Model of the N reactor, the thick security wall separat ing the classif ied reactor from the unclassified heat exchanger side of the plant.


Outage “without major adverse impact”

September 3, 1963


“a streamlined technique”GM Dickeman chairs the “N-Reactor Startup Council” to arrive at “proper decisions” that “key target points are achieved with adequate safety.”


A critical decision 1963In December 1963 they started loading fuel in the tubes. Reactor was still subcritical. How much fuel would it take to reach criticality? There was a pool among the workers. How many tubes fueled to achieve criticality? Ray Dickeman saw the physicists were diddling around. It was a major milestone to go critical in 1963 and he was fed up with “screwing around.” Threw in a huge batch or uranium on the evening of December 31, pulled the rods and it went critical.


N-REACTOR Pu OPERATIONS

OPERATION BEGINS 1963 WEAPON-GRADE

PLUTONIUM (6% PU-240)DUAL PURPOSE

OPERATION APRIL 1966

WEAPON-GRADE PLUTONIUM (6%

PU-240)

FUEL GRADE 1973-1982 FUEL-GRADE (12% PU-240)

WEAPON-GRADE FY1981 CONVERSION TO

WEAPON-GRADE

SHUTDOWN 1987 COCOONING 2012


N-reactor produced little Pu until the 1980s

After 1971 N-Reactor was the only Pu production reactor operating at Hanford.

At the same time U.S. President Richard Nixon threatened to shut down the N-Reactor.

In 1983 U.S. Congress approves weapons grade plutonium production restart.


N-Reactor 65 Billion Kilowatt-hours to WPPS

65 Billion Kilowatt-hours generated over design lifetime of 25

years

First WPPS reactor.

Innovative designs improved on previous

WWII era reactors.

Reduced heat and radionuclide releases

into the environment

Successfully produced electricity as well as

plutonium Reddy Kilowatt pre-conservation era


N-Reactor Fuel & Waste Stream


Purex PlantMade Pu from 1956 to 1972; 1983 to 1988.Purex processed 75% of Pu at HanfordStill highly contaminated Longer than three football

fields, 64 feet above ground and 40 feet below ground


Plutonium Uranium Extraction

Purex facility extracted plutonium

from 1952-1988

Pu made in the N-Reactor 1963-1987


N-Reactor Gamma Radiation “Substantially” higher

danger to workers.


Strike Caused by Radiation Dose

Hanford Atomic Metals Trade Council HAMTC represents 15 unions at Hanford.

Strike begins September 17, 1967 ends 15 weeks later in December 9.

Strike cost workers $500,000 in lost wages.

N-reactor employes began returning to work today, ending a 103-day-old strike over radiation. A union spokesman said nine of 300 union members voted against the agreement yesterday. It clarifies and formalizes the company's procedures for uniform application in all DUN- managed facilities under which 300 millirems per seven-day period and three rems of gamma-radiation exposure per year are the basic administrative checkpoints... An Atomic Energy Commission spokesman said today the settlement does not affect the commission's position that established AEC radiation-exposure limits are not negotiable. Those limits are 3 rems per quarter and a maximum of 5 rems per year. He said AEC does not tell its contractors what administrative policies and practices to follow in setting guidelines but does not permit them to exceed the AEC limits. The exposure guidelines followed by Hanford contractors traditionally have been well below the maximum normal operating limits set by the AEC, he said. N-reactor employes began returning to work on the graveyard and day shifts today. -Tri-Cities Herald

December 1967 Monthly report

Tri-Cities Herald


Radioactive Effluent Springs Predicted 1964

July 30, 1964

Columbia RiverN-Reactor ->


Zig-Zag TrenchN Reactor located close to the Columbia River. The zig-zag trench was a liquid disposal trench. Waste was released to the trench where it seemed into the groundwater and river.

The soil and groundwater between the trench and the river is heavily contaminated.


DOUBLE SHELL TANKSConstruction of one of 28 double shell radioactive waste tanks in 1969

149 single shell tanks from WWII

53 million gallons radioactive waste.

1/3 leaking waste


40 Years Waste Legacy

177 waste tanks

149 single shell

28 double shell

56 million gallons waste

349 million curies of radiation


DiversificationJanuary 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the AEC will shut down three Hanford reactors and the AEC announced a program of “segmentation” and “diversification” at Hanford. The work at Hanford will be segmented among multiple contractors and required to invest in the Tri-City economy.


Plutonium production peaks and declines

Various companies that have managed Hanford operations in the past and today


Hanford is split among various contractors

Isochem, Inc. departs Hanford after one year. In 1967 Atlantic-Richfield took over chemical processes at Hanford until 1977

"A Megacurie Fission Product Conversion and Encapsulation Facility"


Fast Flux Test FacilityDOE owned, 400 area Hanford

Construction started 1970, completed 1978, goes critical 1980

Liquid Sodium Cooled Reactor

Made Tritium and medical isotopes, used in fusion research

Offline 1983 in storage for possible future use


Nixon Closes the last of the WWII ReactorsJanuary 1971 President Richard M. Nixon announces that Hanford’s KE reactor will be shut down, marking the end of plutonium manufacture by reactors completed during WWII and the early Cold War. N-Reactor reopened after a brief shut down with intervention of Sen. Henry M. Jackson


WPPS “whoops” Defaults

1971-1982Five nuclear plants financed by sale of power only one built.Overestimated demand for power.Poor management, cost overruns.$2.25 Billion bond default.


Columbia Generating Station a lone success

WPPS OWNED POWER PLANT AT HANFORDENGINEER BURNS & ROE

1984CRITICAL

Generates 12% of WPPS current capacity


Satsop Nuclear Plant

WPPS project$960 billion over budgetNever fueledNow an office park

Abandoned nuclear plant cooling towershttp://tiny.cc/0jtfcx


http://tiny.cc/0jtfcx

http://tiny.cc/0jtfcx

Hanford’s Bitter LegacyKaren Dorn Steele reporter for Spokane Spokesman-Review files FOIA.

1986 DOE releases 19,000 page of classified documents

440,000 Cu Yds of transuranic waste

537,000 Curies released 1944-1955 alone

Hanford holds 678,000 tons of waste Radioactive iodine purposely released into

the environment in 1949


Strontium-90

Plumes of strontium-90 underneath waste retention ponds in the area surrounding the N-Reactor. Red is the highest concentration. The plume has not changed much despite in many years despite operation of a pump-and-treat system from 1995 until March 2006. The N-Reactor discharged a small fraction of Sr-90 than the previous 8 reactors at Hanford

1301-N Crib

N-Reactor N-Reactor


Culture ClashJerry Erickson N Reactor Engineer

Norm Buske sampling Columbia River water

Erickson says Buske’s

sampling is a “stunt” wasting taxpayer money.


Radioactive MulberriesNorm Buske Greenpeace environmentalist

Collects Mulberries from along the N Springs August 1990

Sends strontium 90 laden jam to the head of the DOE & the Governor of Washington


N Reactor Effluent


N-Reactor DeactivationN Basin where nuclear fuel was stored. The focus of a major cleanup 1995-1998

1963

1995


N-Reactor DemolitionN Reactor was cocooned in 2012. Emil Leitz, startup engineer for the plant, who was present at the ceremony, noted that the N Reactor had generated more than 65 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity between 1963 and 1987.


N Reactor Soil Clean Up

DOE and Bechtel begin a soil clean up project at N Reactor.

Involves removing 150,000 tons of contaminated soil

Radioactivity at N Reactor is 50x other soil cleanup sites.


Particles on the Wall

Exhibit exploring the nuclear age against the backdrop of Hanford

Dianne Dickeman, daughter of R.L. Dickeman visual artist

Nancy Dickeman daughter of R.L. Dickeman Poet

The Wind’s Sail by Nancy Dickeman

In the new world combustion is a secret set to burst from its radioactive shell,

its afterlife, cloud billowing into the wind’s sail slips to the ground as if

tempting who will follow who will embrace invention all the way to the ends of the earth?

Along the desert, in the crescent formed where the hills lay flush to sea level and river bed, cooling towers

notch the skyline, the land stained with wild flowers and sagebrush. Down river a camp fire blossoms

orange into twilight, the smoke lingers past nightfall, past the embers’ quenching.

Dianne Dickeman Columbia River Near Hanford, Late Afternoon 2009 Oil on canvas


n reactor time line

Technology

production of power

steam power

power lines

exchange of power

npr power conversion

plutonium power production

half of npr power

later power conversion