Hanford’s historic B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale nuclear reactor, went critical on Sept. 26, 1944. Wigner’s team had designed the Hanford reactors to house 1,600 process tubes.

Hanford’s historic B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale nuclear reactor, went critical on Sept. 26, 1944. Courtesy TRIDEC Wigner’s team had designed the Hanford reactors to house 1,600 ...

The historic B Reactor, the world's first plutonium production reactor, is visible in the distance. This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Nichols' diplomacy skills are stretched thin over ...

Visitors listen to guide Rick Bond as they stand before the front face of the plutonium reactor in the Hanford B Reactor in 2022. The B Reactor was the first full-scale plutonium production ...

Plutonium is a radioactive element created by bombarding uranium in the reactor's fuel channels. At its peak, around 45,000 workers labored at the Hanford Site to extract enough plutonium for a ...

Hanford’s B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale production reactor, is shown from the air in 1944. All that summer, construction workers streamed into the Hanford camp, filling barracks as ...