Cover image for Atomic geography : a personal history of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
Title:
Atomic geography : a personal history of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
Alternate title:
Personal history of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
Summary:
"Perhaps the first environmental engineer at Hanford, Melvin R. Adams spent 24 years on its 586 square miles of desert terrain. His thoughtful vignettes recall challenges and sites he worked on or found personally intriguing. Adams helped determine the initial scope of the soil and solid waste cleanup. The Environmental Restoration and Disposal Facility today covers 107 acres and has a capacity of 18 million tons. His group also designed and tested a marked, maintenance-free disposal barrier. It uses natural materials that will remain stable for thousands of years. They expanded a network of groundwater monitoring wells to define contaminated plumes, assess treatment effectiveness, and provide relevant data to hydrologists. They also developed a pilot scale pump and treatment plant for use on a four-square-mile carbon tetrachloride plume. Adams shares his perspective on leaking high-level waste storage tanks, dosimeters, and Hanford's obsession with safety."--Provided by publisher.
Contents:
What is Hanford? -- What is Hanford : a unique geography -- What is Hanford : a historical timeline -- An obscure, strange and fascinating place -- The paradoxes of Hanford -- Hanford : the personal challenge -- Hanford : the physical anomalies -- The atomic pond -- The Purex railroad tunnels -- Z-9 Crib, poisoning plutonium and crawler robots -- Burial grounds -- Hanford : the cultural progression -- First fishing, then farming, then Hanford -- From plutonium to cleanup -- The street names of Richland -- The atomic man -- F house -- How a Japanese balloon shut Hanford down -- Hanford : the engineering challenge -- The nuclear priesthood and archaeological analogs -- The weeds -- Natural analogs : designing a water retaining barrier -- Thousands of wells -- Tumbleweeds -- Bird in a tank and data overload -- Pumping carbon tetrachloride -- The Beverly Railroad Bridge -- Glowing in the dark -- Tank waste controversy -- Hanford : the national park -- Elk and wild horses -- Rare plants/ new plants -- The Hanford Reach -- B reactor -- Hanford as a redemptive quest -- Hanford : the poetic response -- Glossary.
Physical Description:
xiii, 140 pages : illustrations (some col.), maps ; 23 cm
Personal Subject:
Publisher:
Washington State University Press,
Publication Date:
2016
ISBN:
9780874223415
Publication Information:
Pullman, Washington : Washington State University Press, [2016]
Call Number:
623.4 ADAMS
Holds: Copies: