We have lived in the Tri Cities for 12 years and had never taken the B Reactor Tour. We finally signed up and took the tour!
The B Reactor made plutonium for the atomic bomb. This whole reactor was constructed within 11 months and a huge work crew moved out to Richland to work 24/7 to produce plutonium. We met with a tour group in Richland and then took a 40 minute bus ride with the other tourists out to the site. The tour guide gave an interesting talk on the bus.
Nathan went over to the Far Side!
Danger signs!
Command Room
The operator controlled things from here.
Papa Norm and Gram joined us on the tour.
Scram means the reactor shut down. That was not wanted! We found out that the physicist who Elizabeth's school was named after was very helpful in helping the reactor work! For a while, they couldn't keep the reactor running and didn't know why. Leona Libby figured out there was a build up of gas and proposed a solution to the problem. It worked! Without her, the reactor may never have gotten up and running.
Making silly sentences using magnets.
Looking at the water pipes that brought in all the cool water from the Columbia River.
The nuclear reactor that made the plutonium.
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