Video shows the moment a historic exhaust stack came crashing down at Washington’s decommissioned nuclear production site.
The 175-foot-tall concrete exhaust stack was at Hanford’s former K West Reactor.
U.S. Department of Energy and Central Plateau Cleanup Company placed explosives at the base and detonated them.
You can watch it here:
It takes about seven seconds for the structure to come crashing down. The demolition is a step toward putting the K West Reactor into temporary storage.
“This project demonstrates how we are using careful planning and expert technology to expedite legacy cleanup actions,” said Hanford Site Manager Ray Geimer. “Safely removing this structure is an important step in clearing the area around the K reactor for the next phase of demolition where heavy equipment will access and demolish the old K West fuel storage basin that is connected to the K West reactor building. In doing so, we are clearing the path for the final stages of decommissioning the K West Reactor, which supports an overarching strategy to expedite decommissioning, reduce long-term surveillance and maintenance requirements, and eliminate threats to the environment.”
It was built in the mid-1950s in support of Hanford’s plutonium production mission. The site played a pivotal role in the Manhattan Project.
The fuel storage basins provided temporary storage of irradiated fuel discharged from the reactors before shipment to fuel processing facilities.
In October 2022, workers completed construction of the K East Reactor Interim Safe Storage enclosure, a process known as “cocooning.”
Today, the Hanford Site houses nine deactivated reactors and contains about 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste.
In 1989, Washington State reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin cleanup of the site.