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Manhattan Project
For the Manhattan Project, the Hanford Engineer Works produced plutonium at a roughly 600 square mile (1554 sq km) site along the Columbia River in Washington state. The Hanford Site was selected because of an abundant supply of cold Columbia River water needed to cool nuclear reactors, ample available hydroelectric power, mild climate, excellent transportation facilities, and distance from major population centers. Workers at the Hanford Site constructed and operated the world’s first nuclear production reactors that produced the plutonium used in the Trinity Test and in the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945.
About Hanford
Learn about Hanford and the Tri-Cities role in the Manhattan Project. 
Visit Hanford (Tri-Cities)
Visit Hanford (Tri-Cities) and explore all the different ways you can learn about the Manhattan Project. 
Producing Plutonium
Learn how the Hanford Site produced plutonium for the Manhattan Project. 
People of Hanford
Meet the people of Hanford from those who pre-date the Manhattan Project to those who became intertwined with its legacies. 
Places of Hanford
Learn about the massive plutonium production complex at Hanford and the role of the local communities (now the Tri-Cities). 
Stories of Hanford
Read about the stories of Hanford from its revolutionary science to how the project changed local communities. Manhattan Project Related Places in Hanford |
Last updated: April 21, 2025