Why was Hanford, Washington, selected during World War II as the site of America’s first nuclear energy plant?
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A vast, isolated area was needed to produce plutonium because no one knew for sure how much damage the radiation it gave off might do. Abundant power for plutonium production and water to cool the heat that built up were also needed.
What seemed like an ideal location existed in a barren corner of Benton County in Central Washington. Hanford was isolated—the nearest large own was Yakima, a hundred miles away. Although the land was desert, the climate was fairly mild. The Columbia River, an abundant source of water for cooling reactors, flowed through the village. (This was why even more isolated areas, such as New Mexico, were not chosen for the plutonium reactor—no water for cooling was nearby.) Also, the Grand Coulee Dam was producing abundant power nearby.
And, of course, it would be easy to build a factory town here because of the smooth land—certainly not a deciding factor in the selection of Hanford, but nevertheless gratefully acknowledged by the U.S. Army engineers who were called upon to build thousands of barracks posthaste.
By the way, the actual reactor was constructed several miles north of Hanford—not right inside town, as the question implies.
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Source: stackoverflow.com
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