Hanford Site — Attraction in West Richland

My wife and I did the tour last week and we both really enjoyed it. We did the "Reactor B" tour which is a 4-hour tour, total time for us was from 10:45am to 3:20pm. Within that time they take you around the Hanford Site and explain some of the geology and wildlife before you even get to reactor B which is 30 mins away from where the tour starts. The tour guides are excellent and most of them worked at the Hanford Site in some capacity so the depth of their technical knowledge is impressive for the engineering type. You are allowed to wander around the site into all the rooms and many of them still have old signs from 1950s. There are talks that are given that help explain what this place did and how it did it. Whatever your opinion on nuclear weapons is, it is very cool to stand at the base of this massive nuclear reactor and realize you are standing in the most top secret place in the country during WWII. If you have any interest in nuclear technology or WWII, I would recommend seeing this place before all the technical people retire. Tips: Sign up online ahead of time. There are limited seats on the bus. Bring water and small snacks. The BBQ/brewery next door is ready to serve as soon as the...

I'm studying Environmental Engineering and Can Confirm: this place is a disaster waiting to catch wider attention. Nuclear waste is currently leaking into the groundwater and has been for years because some genius in the 40s decided that single layer metal underground storage tanks will definitely never rust out and leak. Spoiler: they did. The radiation is currently within 10 years of reaching the Colombia river in troubling amounts. The government and cleanup agencies are in a stalemate about what to do about the high level nuclear waste (the really bad stuff). Low level waste processing is going slower than expected. This place is a nightmare and will/has caused untold damage . I hope there is good progress made in the cleanup effort in the next 30 years.

Fun fact: the federal government is planning on funding cleanup into the 2090's. As...

Hard to relate to the plant and nuclear material production. Wish there was a cartoon like they showed in Jurassic Park. Most laypeople don't need a full understanding of the entire technical details of nuclear material production, but just some dumbed down information to relate to what they were seeing at the plant. In fact, little needs to be understood about nuclear, but about how amazing it was to build Hanford with government resources. I was given the impression that Hanford was "eco-friendly", regardless of the cleanup, but people have their doubts...and lawsuits...and illnesses. Staff was very helpful and friendly. It is a...