WWII’S HANFORD REACTOR SECRET: How 1,200 Tons of Graphite Made Plutonium
139K views · Dec 10, 2025 · Education
Comments · 186
@ilionreactor1079 · 9 months ago (edited)
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQPyGxCreCA&t=1272">21:12</a> "...viewed through thick glass windows" <i>Four feet</i> thick. Layers of leaded glass and mineral oil. Pretty amazing to work precisely under such conditions.
3
@vexicon · 6 months ago
My grandfather worked on the B reactor and my father was an analyst on the power generator reactor. Interesting times...
@Feinrizulwur · 9 months ago
The merits of the real hero E Wigner is forgotten.<br>The man who mastered several fields and made the project a real success.<br>Wigner a very good friend to Einstein, sometimes working together.
6
@msimon6808 · 3 months ago
Water was a moderator. It was not used to control reaction rates. It did affect them.
@malectric · 6 months ago
Alchemy in an industrial scale.
1
@davidhimmelsbach557 · 9 months ago
My Grandfather worked at Hanford -- he was in charge of the orchards. The pears and peaches were harvested by the US Government for the war effort, too. The farm owners were moved out, wives & kids. But the orchards remained. Heh.<br>He knew something Big was up because no less than 60 of the world's largest cranes were on site building these conversion reactors, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Project had hovered up every construction asset that the US had to offer. The Pacific War was costing 2,000+ lives per day... mostly Prisoners of War and Civilians.
6
@Mistermillwright · 8 months ago
Lost my mom and step dad, to cancer, they worked thier!
2
@Philly-r1d · 9 months ago
Stupid AI. You could at least show photos of the real reactor.
107
@goranolsson3383 · 9 months ago
Just as a fine wine with a drop of sewage is pure sewage, AI combined with a stupid user is pure stupidity.
31
@stevengiles346 · 9 months ago
It’s incredible what was done back in the 40s.
5
@kenrdavis2266 · 8 months ago
Left out how water was used to cool graphite. Every graphite block was machined to allow water to run along every block. When cylinders fell out the end into water and glowed. They were wrangled with poles.
@gradyyokeley9930 · 6 months ago
I would love to see Yall do one on the Savanna River Plant ran by DuPont in Barnwell SC.
1
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