Later Operations
The United States Department of Energy assumed control of the Hanford Site in 1977. Although uranium enrichment and plutonium breeding were slowly phased out, the nuclear legacy left an indelible mark on the Tri-Cities. Since World War II, the area had developed from a small farming community to a booming "Atomic Frontier" to a powerhouse of the nuclear-industrial complex. Decades of federal investment created a community of highly skilled scientists and engineers. As a result of this concentration of specialized skills, the Hanford Site was able to diversify its operations to include scientific research, test facilities, and commercial nuclear power production.
Some of the facilities currently located at the Hanford Site:
- The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, owned by the Department of Energy and operated by Battelle Memorial Institute
- The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), a national research facility in operation from 1980 to 1992 (its last fuel was removed in 2008)
- LIGO's Hanford Observatory, an interferometer searching for gravitational waves
- Columbia Generating Station, a commercial nuclear power plant operated by Energy Northwest.
The Department of Energy and its contractors offer tours of the site. Sixty public tours, each five hours long, were planned for 2009. The tours are free, require advance reservation via the department's web site, and are limited to U.S. citizens at least 18 years of age.
Read more about this topic: Hanford Site
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