The B Reactor at the Hanford Site in the U.S. state of Washington began producing plutonium, with the facility later going on to create more for nearly the entire American nuclear arsenal.

B Reactor

First industrial-scale nuclear reactor

The B Reactor at the Hanford Site, near Richland, Washington, was the first large-scale nuclear reactor ever built, at 250 MW. It achieved criticality on September 26, 1944. The project was a key part of the Manhattan Project, the United States nuclear weapons development…

Hanford Site

Defunct American nuclear production site

The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington. It has also been known as Site W and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Established in 1943 as…

Washington (state)

U.S. state

Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington. Washington borders the Pacific Ocean to…

Plutonium

Chemical element with atomic number 94 (Pu)

Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It was initially discovered and named Hesperium by Enrico Fermi in 1934. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally…

Nuclear weapons of the United States

The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and is the only country to have used them in combat, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II against Japan. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 nuclear tests, and tested…