Last Friday Hanford “blows its stack”

The cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has been going on for almost 36 years. It all started back in 1989 with the signing of what is called the Tri Party Agreement. Some experts are predicting that cleanup will continue until about 2086 

A very visible part of that cleanup project occurred on Friday. 

According to Seattletimes.com,
‘The 175-foot-tall concrete exhaust stack at the Hanford nuclear site’s defunct K West Reactor came crashing down Friday afternoon.
A “boom” sounded as carefully placed explosives around the base of the stack were remotely detonated. The stack leaned to its side, taking a couple of seconds to fall in one piece and hit the ground with a thud.’ 

The demolition of the stack is just one more step towards placing the K West reactor into “Temporary storage.” The company hired to knock down the stack was Controlled Demolitions Incorporated. This was the same company that was hired to Implode the King Dome back in 2000. 

More about K West

The K West reactor was in operation from 1955 to 1970. Its main job was to produce plutonium for the Cold War effort. At the time the stack was used for any possible release of airborne radioactive contamination during operation. Originally, the stack was 300 feet tall but was eventually reduced to 175 feet tall. 

The K West reactor is just one of eight nuclear reactors that were used for plutonium production that are going to be mothballed and is located just 300 feet from the Columbia River. The idea is that once these reactors are completely decommissioned, they will probably let them sit for at least another 75 years while they wait for the radiation levels in the cores to dissipate to a point where they can finish decontamination. 

What is the next step for K West? 

Next on the list of things to do for K West is to tear down the offices on the east side of this structure and some structure on the west side. The final “cocooning” of the K West reactor probably won't be complete until at least 2032.