Safety

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Dee McCullough: I go by my second name. My first name is Jessie but I go by the second name, which is Dee. D-E-E. My last name is McCullough. M-C-C-U-L-L-O-U-G-H. What was your job here? McCullough: Started out as an instrument technician, became a supervisor, instrument supervisor, and […]

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Paul Vinther: I’m Paul Vinther. P-A-U-L V-I-N-T-H-E-R. I have a first name, Alvin, but never went by it so everybody knows me as Paul. And I first came to Hanford on June the 26th, 1950. I remember that vividly because that was the day after the Korean War […]

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Tell us your name. Steve Buckingham: Steve. S-T-E-V-E. Buckingham. B-U-C-K-I-N-G-H-A-M. (Question off camera) I thought I’d discuss this a little bit of why this location was chosen as the Hanford location, was chosen for the Manhattan District. DuPont was asked to design and build this facility but DuPont […]

In early 1944, DuPont, the operating contractor at Hanford, foresaw the need for four chemical separation facilities. These facilities, designated the T and U plants at location 200-West and the B and C plants at location 200-East (the C plant was never built), would be located approximately ten miles south of the reactors. The separation […]

The B Reactor at Hanford was built and operated by DuPont and was the world’s first production-scale nuclear reactor. B Reactor was the first of three plutonium reactors constructed in the 100 area during the Manhattan Project. Design of the B Reactor The design was based on the success of Enrico Fermi’s “Chicago Pile I” […]

Cynthia Kelly: Why don’t you start, George, by telling us your name and spelling it. George Mahfouz: I’m George Mahfouz, last name is spelled M-A-H-F-, as in Frank, -O-U-Z, as in zebra. Kelly: Is that Egyptian?  Mahfouz: It’s Middle Eastern. The name is Syrian.  Kelly: Anyways, sorry, next question—tell us about your background, you know, where you went to college… […]

Michel: My name was Mary Lowe, L-O-W-E, and I married John Michel, M-I-C-H-E-L. Kelly: Great. Is it possible that you can look toward me? So tell me, how and when did you come to Oak Ridge? Michel: I came in November of 1944. Kelly: And what had—where had you come from? What brought you here? […]

Hanford, Washington, on the beautiful Columbia River, was the site selected for the full-scale plutonium production plant, the B Reactor. Today a popular tourist desination, the Hanford Site proved crucial to the success of the Manhattan Project.  Site Selection In December 1942, the Army Corps of Engineers worked with DuPont to establish criteria for the […]