E2. The “T” Plant Reprocessing Canyon. This was the world’s first large-scale reprocessing facility. In 1944 it chopped up irradiated fuel rods from the Hanford “B”Reactor, dissolved them in acid, and recovered their plutonium for use in the Trinity and Nagasaki bombs. Some fission products in the irradiated fuel escaped into the atmosphere, notably Iodine, Krypton, Argon, Cesium, and Stronium. The bulk of the fission products remained behind in large volumes of high level radioactive liquid wastes. Post-reprocessing liquid wastes are widely regarded as the most difficult nuclear wastes to manage. Hanford Reservation, 200 W Area, Richland, Washington. 15 November 1984.
These photographs by Robert Del Tredici are protected by copyright and are available for purchase as high-quality digital prints on archival paper or as silver gelatin prints from bdeltredici@hotmail.com.