Explosives Bring Down Hanford Stacks Stacks Removed From Nuclear Reservation As Part Of Effort To Decontaminate Site

Sun., Aug. 15, 1999

Two reactor stacks at Hanford Nuclear Reservation exploded Saturday - but no one panicked. In fact, a crowd of about 200 watched nearby.

The two stacks simultaneously fell to the ground in a planned explosion that went off without a hitch, Department of Energy officials said.

“The removal of the stacks today is visible evidence of the cleanup progress we’re making at Hanford,” said Chris Smith, DOE project manager.

The two reactor stacks operated side-by-side for nearly 20 years. They were demolished as part of the effort to decommission and decontaminate Hanford’s former nuclear reactors.

The 560-square-mile Hanford reservation is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, after making plutonium from the 1940s to the 1980s for the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Controlled Demolition, Inc., the company that has been selected to implode Seattle’s Kingdome next year, used a total 260 pounds of explosives to demolish the 1.16 million-pound reinforced concrete stacks. The bases of the stacks were cut with large notches that directed them to fall southward into a landing area.

When the reactors were operating, air from them passed through filters that trapped radioactive particles. The air then went through the chimney-like stacks. According to the Department of Energy, the concrete stacks contain only a small amount of radiation and thus were safe to demolish.

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