N-Reactor

The N-Reactor was a water/graphite-moderated nuclear reactor constructed during the Cold War and operated by the U.S. government at the Hanford Site in Washington; it began production in 1963.

[4] The reactor was shut down in 1987, when the Secretary of Energy determined that no more plutonium was needed and placed on cold standby in 1988, with "final deactivation" beginning in 1994 and completing in 1998.

[5] Deactivation consisted of shutdown and isolation of operational systems and the cleanup of radiological and hazardous waste.

[6] N-Reactor (the 105-N Reactor and the 109-N Heat Exchanger Building) were placed in Interim Safe Storage (ISS) in 2012.

ISS consists of the removal of the fuel storage basin, ancillary support facilities,[7][8] and most portions of the shield wall that surround the 105-N Reactor.

The N-Reactor at the Hanford site along the Columbia River .
Aerial Photo of the N-Reactor. Taken January 2013.
Fuel element from N-Reactor