THE FREE WORLD WAS AT STAKE.

A PATCH OF DESERT IN EASTERN WASHINGTON WAS AT THE CENTER OF ONE OF AMERICA'S BIGGEST GAMBLES.

<<THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A SCRIPT FOR A HOLLYWOOD THRILLER.

IT'S GOT SO MANY ELEMENTS OF MYSTERY, IMPORTANCE, LIFE OR DEATH... IT'S ALMOST LIKE A BATTLEFIELD AT HOME."

<<OVERNIGHT, THE UNSUSPECTING FARMING TOWN OF HANFORD, WASHINGTON BECAME THE SITE OF AN URGENT WAR-TIME MISSION.

IT WAS KEY TO THE MANHATTAN PROJECT...CODE NAME FOR AMERICA'S TOP-SECRET ATOMIC WEAPONS PROGRAM.

A DESPERATE RACE WAS ON TO BEAT NAZI GERMANY TO THE ATOM BOMB.

THE PRESSURE TO SUCCEED WAS INTENSE.

<<...BEFORE THE WAR, EVERYBODY KNEW WHAT WAS POSSIBLE.

SCIENTISTS HAD EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB IN TERMS OF THEORY.

SO ANYBODY COULD HAVE DONE IT, AND THE GERMANS WERE PROBABLY THE BEST PREPARED FROM ANYBODY TO DO IT.

<<THE SCALE AND URGENCY OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT WERE UNIMAGINABLE.

NO AMERICAN RESOURCE WAS UNTAPPED.

THE GREATEST MINDS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING WERE RECRUITED.

<<IT WAS THE LARGEST INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTION SITE IN THE WORLD AT THE TIME.

<<THE ENTIRE MANHATTAN PROJECT WAS OF A SCOPE THAT HAD NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE AND HASN'T BEEN RECREATED SINCE, IN TERMS OF SIZE, NUMBER OF WORKERS AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT, LET ALONE THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT.

PERHAPS GOING TO THE MOON WAS ON A COMPARABLE SCALE... <<HANFORD'S ASSIGNMENT: PRODUCE ENOUGH PLUTONIUM TO MAKE AN ATOM BOMB.

MILLIONS WERE SPENT ON UNCERTAIN TECHNOLOGY THAT HAD ONLY BEEN DEMONSTRATED AT MICROSCOPIC LEVELS.

<<WHAT A CHALLENGE TO TAKE, THIS REALLY OFF THE WALL BUCK ROGERS, FUTURISTIC THEORY AND TURN IT INTO A PRACTICAL THING THAT ACTUALLY WORKS.

<<EARLY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, INTERNATIONAL SCIENTISTS WERE PIONEERING A NEW FIELD- NUCLEAR PHYSICS.BEFORE LONG, THE OLD VIEW OF AN ATOM BOUNCING AROUND THE UNIVERSE LIKE A BILLIARD BALL WAS REPLACED BY AN ATOM THAT RESEMBLED A MINIATURE SOLAR SYSTEM.

<<THE SCIENTISTS WERE WELL-KNOWN TO EACH OTHER THROUGHOUT EUROPE, AND THEY HAD ALWAYS BEEN VERY COLLEGIAL AND VERY EXCITED TO SHARE THEIR DISCOVERIES, AND THAT WAS PART OF THE PROBLEM.

<<BY THE 1930S, GERMANY'S THIRD RICHE WAS ON THE RISE.

AMONG THE FIRST TO FEEL THE EFFECTS OF THE NAZI REGIME WERE THE JEWISH PHYSICISTS.

ONE BY ONE, THEY FLED EUROPE.

WITH THEM WAS ITALIAN NOBEL PRIZE WINNER ENRICO FERMI, WHOSE WIFE WAS JEWISH.

<<WHEN HE WENT TO STOCKHOLM SWEDEN TO RECEIVE THE NOBEL PRIZE IN 1938, FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS, HE FLED.

HE TOOK HIS FAMILY WITH HIM AND HE JUST KEPT GOING.

AND THAT'S HOW HE GOT OUT OF ITALY.

<<FERMI AND A GROWING FRATERNITY OF RENOWNED PHYSICISTS FLED NAZI OCCUPATION TO AMERICA.<<WHEN ENRICO FERMI CAME HERE SOME OF HIS FRIENDS WHO ALSO WERE IMMIGRANTS FROM EUROPE, TOLD HIM THAT NAZI GERMANY WAS REPEATING HIS EXPERIMENTS.

THE EXPERIMENTS FOR WHICH HE HAD WON HIS PRIZES AND SO HE WAS FRIGHTENED OF THAT.

<<IN 1939, WITH WORLD WAR IMMINENT, TWO GERMAN PHYSICISTS ACHIEVED A DRAMATIC SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH- THEY USED NEUTRONS TO SPLIT AN URANIUM ATOM- RELEASING ENORMOUS ENERGY- NUCLEAR FISSION HAD BEEN DISCOVERED.

THE NEWS ROCKED THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY.

IT MADE AN ATOMIC WEAPON POSSIBLE.

ALBERT EINSTEIN WROTE PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT WARNING HIM OF THE DANGER AND GERMANY'S HEAD START.

SOON, A SECRET GOVERNMENT REPORT WOULD END IN A TERRIFYING CONCLUSION.

ONLY A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF A RARE ISOTOPE OF URANIUM, U235, WAS NEEDED TO MAKE AN ATOMIC WEAPON.

ACROSS AMERICA, SCIENTISTS ACCELERATED THEIR RESEARCH.

AT BERKELEY, GLEN SEABORG AND HIS TEAM MAKE A VITAL DISCOVERY.

USING A CYCLOTRON, THEY CREATED FROM URANIUM 238 A SUB-MICROSCOPIC SPEC OF AN ENTIRELY NEW ELEMENT...PLUTONIUM 239.

A MAN MADE FISSIONABLE ELEMENT THAT COULD SUBSTITUTE THE VERY RARE U235.

<<IN DECEMBER 1942, UNDER THE BLEACHERS AT STAG FIELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO...ENRICO FERMI AND HIS TEAM OF PHYSICISTS BUILT THE WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR REACTOR... CHICAGO PILE #1, PRODUCING THE FIRST CONTROLLED CHAIN REACTION.

<<IT WAS A SMALLER GRAPHITE REACTOR THAT HAD A POWER OF 1/20TH OF 1 WATT OF ENERGY BUT IT WAS ENOUGH THAT THEY PROVED THAT YOU COULD HAVE A CONTROLLED CHAIN REACTION.

<<A NEW ERA DAWNED IN HUMAN HISTORY.

A YOUNG ENGINEER, CRAWFORD GREENEWALT, WAS IN CHICAGO OBSERVING FOR DUPONT.

<<THERE WERE EMINENT SCIENTISTS, BUT NONE OF THEM WERE ENGINEERS AND THE DUPONT COMPANY IS BEING ASKED TO UNDERTAKE THIS MAJOR UNDERTAKING AND ALL THE ASSURANCE OF THIS WORKING OR NOT WERE THE PHYSICISTS.

AND SO OVER WE WENT AND I SAW THE FIRST CHAIN REACTION TAKE PLACE.

AND I REMEMBER FERMI AT THE TIME- WHEN THEY SHOVED THE ROD BACK IN THE REACTION- YOU KNOW HOW THEY TOLD IT...IT'S A QUESTION OF WHETHER YOUR CURVE IS EXPONENTIAL OR WHETHER IT'S NOT THE THING WENT LIKE THAT AND WE ALL HEAVED A SIGH OF RELIEF AND SAID HOSANNA.

THE LABORATORY TEST WAS ONLY A FIRST STEP.

NOW, BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, THE ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS WAS CALLED ON TO MANAGE THE LARGEST CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SINCE THE PYRAMIDS.

IN CHARGE OF IT WAS GENERAL LESLIE R. GROVES, A GRUFF, NO NON-SENSE COMMANDER WHO HAD JUST FINISHED THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PENTAGON.

AT THE HEART OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT WAS THE CREATION OF THREE SECRET ATOMIC CITIES.

THE MISSION AT OAKRIDGE WAS TO SEPARATE THE MORE FISSIONABLE URANIUM ISOTOPE, U- 235 FROM THE MORE COMMON U-238.

AT LOS ALAMOS,... SCIENTISTS WERE TO DESIGN AND BUILD THE ATOMIC WEAPON.

AND HANFORD WOULD BE THE SITE OF SEVERAL GIGANTIC NUCLEAR REACTORS PRODUCING PLUTONIUM.

TWO DIFFERENT PATHS TO AN ATOMIC BOMB WERE TAKEN,...ONE USING U235 AND ONE USING PLUTONIUM.

<<THEY WERE PREPARED FOR FAILURE AT EVERY STEP.

THAT'S WHY HANFORD HAD 3 REACTORS AND NOT ONE, THAT'S WHY OAKRIDGE WAS SEPARATING URANIUM 235 FROM 238, AS A COMPLETELY SEPARATE BUT PARALLEL WAY OF MAKING AN ATOMIC BOMB.

<<FERMI'S CHAIN REACTION IN CHICAGO PILE #1 PRODUCED ONLY A TINY TRACE OF PLUTONIUM.

SCALING UP TO PRODUCE ENOUGH FOR EVEN ONE ATOMIC BOMB WOULD BE AN ENORMOUS TASK.

IT WAS ALL UNCHARTED TERRITORY, AND GROVES WANTED A COMPANY WITH EXPERIENCE.

<<WHEN THE GOVERNMENT DECIDED THEY WANTED TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB, THEY KNEW IT WOULD BE A HUGE PROJECT THAT HAD TO BE RUSHED THROUGH, AND ONE OF THE FIRST COMPANIES THAT CAME TO MIND WAS DUPONT, BACK IN WILLMINGTON DE.

THEY KNEW HOW TO WORK WITH, DANGEROUS MATERIALS, WHETHER CHEMICALS, OR MUNITIONS, THEY WERE GOOD AT BUILDING HUGE FACTORIES <<BUT DUPONT, CRITICIZED OVER WORLD WAR ONE PROFITS, WAS RELUCTANT.

<<DUPONT WAS NOT IN ANY HURRY TO TAKE ON THE JOB.

THEY WERE ALREADY BOOKED UP FOR THE WAR WITH ALL KINDS OF PROJECTS, AND THEY STILL HAD SOME SORE SPOTS IN THEIR, CORPORATE SKIN FROM WWI WHEN THEY GOT A LOT OF BAD PR FOR BEING WAR PROFITEERS, MAKING A BIT TOO MUCH MONEY ON MAKING IMPLEMENTS OF WAR.

<<A DETERMINED GENERAL GROVES ASKS PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT TO INTERVENE.

<<DUPONT WAS APPROACHED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE US, AND ASKED TO TAKE ON THIS JOB OF BUILDING HANFORD AS A PATRIOTIC DUTY.

DUPONT WAS NOT SEEKING THAT KIND OF WORK, DUPONT REALLY DIDN'T WANT THAT KIND OF WORK, BUT YOU DON'T TURN DOWN THE PRESIDENT IN WAR TIME.

<<DUPONT FINALLY AGREES TO DO THE JOB FOR EXPENSES AND A FEE OF ONE DOLLAR.

THE LAST HURDLE WAS LOCATION.

THE GOVERNMENT NEEDED AN ISOLATED AREA WITH VAST AMOUNTS OF LAND, ABUNDANT WATER AND POWER, BUT FEW PEOPLE.

GROVES CALLS ON HIS TRUSTED AID, COL.

FRANKLIN T. MATTHIAS TO MAKE A WHIRL WIND TRIP OUT WEST TO FIND A SITE.

<<WE KNEW IT HAD TO BE IN THE NORTHWEST, THAT'S THE ONLY PLACE THERE WAS POWER, THE ONLY PLACE THERE WAS WATER, OF ANY CONSEQUENCE.

<<WHEN MATTHIAS FLEW OVER THE COLUMBIA BASIN HE KNEW HE HAD FOUND WHAT HE WAS LOOKING FOR.

<<IT HAD SOME OF THE FRESHEST, CLEANEST, COOLEST WATER IN NORTH AMERICA, THE GRAND MAGNIFICENT COLUMBIA RIVER FLOWING DOWN THROUGH IT.

SAND AND GRAVEL DEPOSITS FOR CONSTRUCTION, HILLS THAT COULD PROVIDE A SECURITY BUFF AS WELL AS VERY MILD CLIMATE AND FEW PEOPLE.

<< I JUST SAID: "THIS IS IT.

THERE HAS TO BE... THERE'S NOTHIN LIKE IT IN THE COUNTRY."

AND THEY CONFIRMED IT EVERYTHING WAS GOOD ABOUT IT.

ON NEW YEARS DAY, 1943, GROVES SIGNS AUTHORIZATION TO ACQUIRE 640 SQUARE MILES AS THE SITE FOR HANFORD ENGINEER WORKS.

ONLY ONE OBSTACLE REMAINED: THE FIFTEEN HUNDRED RESIDENTS THAT CALLED THE AREA THEIR HOME.

♪ WE CAME HERE IN '29 AND SETTLED NEAR WHITE BLUFF...DUG A FARM FROM SAGEBRUSH, LORD, THOSE YEARS WERE MIGHTY TOUGH.

BUT UNCLE SAM BOUGHT ALL OUR LANDS, SAID IT'D HELP THE WAR TO END.

SOON OUR FARMS WERE BLOWN AWAY BY TERMINATION WINDS... ♪ WE CALLED IT OUR RIVER EVERYTHING FROM PRIEST RAPIDS DOWN TO HANFORD WAS OUR VALLEY.

<<IT WAS A MARVELOUS PLACE TO GROW UP.

BECAUSE WE HAD SUCH FREEDOM - WE SWAM, WE RODE HORSEBACK AND WE HIKED WE HAD SUCH A CLOSE KNIT COMMUNITY.

<< THE BLUFFS COME UP RIGHT OUT OF THE RIVER PROBABLY TWO HUNDRED FIFTY, THREE HUNDRED FEET ...THEY ARE ESPECIALLY WHITE IN THE AFTERNOON.

THE RURAL TOWNS OF WHITE BLUFF, HANFORD AND RICHLAND DOTTED THE BANKS OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER IN EASTERN WASHINGTON.

<<WHITE BLUFF WAS PROBABLY THE LARGEST OF THE THREE TOWNS OF WHITE BLUFF, HANFORD AND RICHLAND.

ABOUT 550 PEOPLE, WE HAD A LUMBER YARD, WE HAD FRUIT PACKING SHEDS.

WE HAD A BANK, THERE WAS A DRUG STORE, TWO GROCERY STORES.

<< HANFORD AND WHITE BLUFFS ACTUALLY WERE TWO GREAT RIVALS BACK IN MY SCHOOL DAYS.

WE WERE 7 AND A HALF MILES APART.

<< AND WE HAD A BAND I MEAN A GOOD BAND.

THIS WAS A BAND THAT WAS WELL RECOGNIZED THROUGHOUT THE NORTHWEST UNIFORMS EVERYTHING.

<<OUT OF THE DESERT, RESIDENTS CARVED OUT FARMS, PRIMARILY FRUIT ORCHARDS, THAT WERE JUST BEGINNING TO PAY OFF.

<<IT WAS THE EARLIEST FRUIT PRODUCING SECTION OF THE NORTHWEST.

AND I HAVE NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS WHERE OUR FRUIT WENT TO NEW YORK AND WAS SO WELL RECEIVED, IT WAS SHIPPED ABROAD.

<<NATIVE AMERICANS, THE WANAPUM AND THE YAKIMA USED THE AREA AS THEIR WINTER FISHING GROUNDS.

ALL THAT CHANGED.

RESIDENTS WERE TOLD THEIR LAND WAS NEEDED FOR THE WAR EFFORT.

THEY WERE GIVEN TWO WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS TO MOVE OUT.

<<EVERYONE WAS IN THE SAME SITUATION ALL THE FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.

NO REASON GIVEN OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT IT WAS NEEDED FOR THE WAR EFFORT.

THE ELEMENT OF SECRECY WAS ALREADY IN EFFECT...THEY SAID AS LITTLE AS THEY POSSIBLE HAD TO.

THE PEOPLE THERE WERE AS PATRIOTIC AS ANYONE...SO THEY JUST ACCEPTED IT AS MUCH AS THEY COULD.

<< WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY MONEY, PEOPLE DIDN'T RECEIVE ANYTHING AT FIRST AND THEN A LOT OF US RECEIVED SUCH A SMALL AMOUNT THERE WASN'T ENOUGH MONEY TO MOVE ANYPLACE.

<< ...JUST SIMPLY TOLD TO LEAVE.

<<IT'S JUST SOMETHING YOU CAN'T DESCRIBE, TO LOSE SO MUCH IN SUCH A HURRY.<<THEY DUG EVERY GRAVE UP AT WHITEBLUFF AND MOVED IT TO PROSSER.

I DON'T KNOW IF THEY FIGURED THESE PEOPLE WERE SECURITY RISKS OR WHAT.

<<THE PEOPLE MOVED OUT AND THE GOVERNMENT MOVED IN.

IN MARCH, 1943, CONSTRUCTION BEGAN ON THE FIRST FULL SCALE NUCLEAR REACTOR AND PLUTONIUM SEPARATION PLANT.

COLONEL FRANKLIN T. MATTHIAS WAS PUT IN CHARGE OF HANFORD.

<<COL.

MATTHIAS WAS A YOUNG MAN, HE WAS 34 WHEN HE CAME HERE THAT'S INCREDIBLY YOUNG TO BE IN CHARGE OF SOMETHING SO VAST AND SO IMPORTANT.

HE WAS ABSOLUTELY ENMESHED IN THE JOB HE WAS INTO EVERY DETAIL, HE KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ENGINEERING AS WELL AS THE PUBLIC RELATIONS, THE WORKFORCE, THE PROCUREMENTS, EVERYTHING.

<<DUPONT SENT THEIR BEST AND BRIGHTEST ENGINEERS AND CHEMISTS.

<<AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED DUPONT WAS THE STAR OF THE WHOLE OUTFIT, BOY, THEY HAD GOOD PEOPLE, TOP NOTCH.

<<TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WOULD BE NEEDED.

<<IT WAS TOUGH.

WE SPENT AS MUCH MONEY RECRUITING GETTING THEM ON THE PAY ROLL AS WE DID FOR THE ENGINEERING.

<<THEY SENT RECRUITERS OUT.

AND THEY HAD LITTLE PAMPHLETS DESCRIBING THE GREAT WORKING CONDITIONS AND THE WAGES AND FREE TRAIN OR BUS TICKETS TO COME UP HERE.

<<THEY WERE HAVING MAJOR PROBLEMS KEEPING EMPLOYEES, PARTICULARLY WOMEN EMPLOYEES BECAUSE IT WAS SUCH A HORRIBLE PLACE TO LIVE.

THEY'D INVESTED A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY TO HIRE PEOPLE ON THE EAST COAST OR ANYWHERE THEY COULD FIND THEM TO COME OUT HERE.

AND PEOPLE THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO THE GREAT GREEN NORTHWEST AND THEY CAME HERE AND FOUND DESERT AND DIRT AND DUST AND HEAT.

IT WAS HOT OVER A 100 DEGREES AND THERE WAS NO AIR CONDITIONING AND THE WIND BLEW AND THE DIRT BLEW.

<<ALMOST OVERNIGHT, THE OLD HANFORD TOWN SITE WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A HUGE MILITARY STYLE CAMP FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKERS... HANFORD CONSTRUCTION CAMP.

NICKNAMED CAMP HANFORD.

<<WE HAD 50,000 PEOPLE COME IN AND IT SEEMED LIKE OVERNIGHT.

<<I COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT WAS GOING ON COMING FROM A TOWN OF ABOUT 1300 PEOPLE TO 50,000 PEOPLE AND BUSES AND EQUIPMENT AND BIG MESS HALLS IT WAS AMAZING.

<<THE CAMP WAS VERY WILD IN MANY WAYS.

IT KIND OF REFLECTED THIS FRONTIER STYLE COMMUNITY.

A LOT OF SINGLE MEN, WITH LOOSE CHANGE IN THEIR POCKETS.

<<THERE WERE ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE THERE.

ROUGHNECKS, AND SKILLED CRAFTSMEN.

IF SOME GUY WANTED A FIGHT HE DIDN'T HAVE TO GO VERY FAR TO GET IT.

MILITARY STYLE BARRACKS SPRANG FROM THE DESERT LIKE JACKRABBITS.

<<WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED HERE I WAS PUT INTO A BRAND NEW BARRACKS WENT OUT AND WORKED AN EIGHT HOUR SHIFT; WHEN I CAME BACK THERE WAS TWO MORE ROWS OF BARRACKS THERE!

AND GUYS WITH BEDROLLS COMING IN!

<<YOU JUST COULDN'T BELIEVE THESE BIG MESS HALLS WHERE THEY FED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AT A TIME.

<< THE SERVING LADIES WOULD BRING OUT BOWLS OF MASHED POTATOES, VEGETABLES, WHATEVER, AND WHEN THE BOWL WAS EMPTY THEY'D HOLD THE BOWL OVER THEIR HEAD AND SOMEBODY WOULD COME AND GIVE THEM A FULL ONE.

<<....TREMENDOUS QUANTITIES OF FOOD AND THEY MADE 30,000 DONUTS A DAY.

YOU KNOW, THAT AIN'T EVEN 1 A PIECE.

<< WORKERS CAME FROM ACROSS AMERICA.

<<EVERYONE FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE, THE BIG OPENING LINE AT CAMP HANFORD IS YOU KNOW, "HI I'M MIKE, WHERE ARE YOU FROM" << THIS SO CALLED CITY, IT HAD A SEARS ROEBUCKS, IT HAD POST OFFICE, IT HAD SCHOOLS, IT HAD CHURCHES, OF COURSE IT HAD ALL THE OTHER NEEDS LIKE TAVERNS AND YOU KNOW RECREATIONAL, BUT IT ALSO HAD SPORTS TEAMS, IT HAD A THEATER, LIBRARY,... IT BASICALLY WAS THE TYPICAL CITY, BUT IT DEFINITELY WASN'T A TYPICAL CITY...OVERNIGHT, IT BECAME THE 4TH LARGEST CITY IN WASHINGTON STATE.

♪ I WENT TO WORK AT HANFORD THAT WAS 1943.

WHAT WE LABORED HARD TO BUILD REMAINED A MYSTERY.

THE LAND WAS TORN UP PRETTY BAD AND THE DUST STORMS WOULD BEGIN.

FOLKS STOOD ALL DAY TO DRAW THEIR PAY AND LEAVE TERMINATION WINDS.

♪ <<RECRUITING WORKERS TO COME TO HANFORD WAS DIFFICULT.

KEEPING THEM ...WAS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.

<<...THE PERSON SAID "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

SHE SAID, "GOING TO PASCO" , THIS LADY SAYS "HONEY, THAT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

<<ROUGH CONDITIONS MADE THE TURN OVER UNBELIEVABLE.

IN 18 MONTHS, HANFORD WENT THROUGH 150,000 EMPLOYEES.

<<WITH EVERYTHING TORN UP IN CONSTRUCTION, IF WE'D GET A THIRTY-MILE AN HOUR WIND, YOU COULDN'T SEE ACROSS THE STREET.

I MEAN REALLY YOU COULDN'T SEE.

AND THE NEXT DAY AFTER ONE OF THOSE DUST STORMS THE AVERAGE WAS ABOUT EIGHT THOUSAND TERMINATIONS.

THEY CALLED THAT THE TERMINATION WIND.

♪ THE DESERT WIND CAN BLOW HERE 'TIL YOU'VE ALMOST LOST YOUR MIND.

SAND WILL FILL YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE AND EYES 'TIL YOU'RE HALF BLIND.

SOME FOLKS DIG IN DEEPER AND JUST PRAY THE STORM WILL END OTHERS PACK THEIR BAGS AND LEAVE THESE TERMINATION WINDS.

♪ <<THEY LEFT BY LINES, LINES OF PEOPLE.

♪ OTHERS PACK THEIR BAGS AND LEAVE THESE TERMINATION WINDS ♪ <<WOMEN PLAYED A KEY ROLE AT HANFORD.

MOST WORKED IN SUPPORT SERVICES.

<<AT THE CAMP YOU HAD 47,000 MEN AND 4,000 WOMEN.

A LOT OF THE WOMEN WHO CAME OUT TO WORK ENDED UP MARRYING SOMEONE HERE.

LOTS OF THESE WOMEN WERE VERY YOUNG, SOME AS YOUNG AS TEENAGERS.

<<I WAS NINETEEN CAME OUT ON THE TROOP TRAIN.

<<MEN AND WOMAN WERE SEGREGATED, THE WOMEN ACTUALLY LIVED IN A SEPARATE COMPOUND WITH BARBED WIRE AROUND THEM AND GUARDS AND EVERYTHING, AND THE MEN'S WERE A LITTLE MORE OPEN, BUT NOT MUCH.

YOU WERE ASSIGNED A DORM ROOM WITH ONE OTHER PERSON AND YOU HAD NO CHOICE ABOUT THAT PERSON.

<<AND WE HAD HOUSE MOTHERS.

EVERYONE HAD TO SIGN IN AND SIGN OUT.

<<AND MY MOTHER SAID YOU MUST COME UP HERE AND WORK THIS SUMMER, HAVE THIS ONCE IN A LIFE TIME EXPERIENCE, THANK GOODNESS IT WAS ONLY ONCE.

<< MARRIED OR SINGLE...MEN AND WOMEN WERE SEPARATED INTO TWO LIVING AREAS.

<<A LOT OF WOMEN WOULD GO OUT AND TALK TO THEIR HUSBANDS OUT BY THE FENCES.

THE HUSBAND WAS ON ONE SIDE OF THE FENCE AND SHE WAS ON THE OTHER.

<<THERE WAS LOTS OF JOKING ABOUT IT.

WHERE DID YOU MEET YOUR WIFE?

OH, SAME PLACE YOU DID, OUT IN THE WOODPILE.

BUT IT WASN'T EASY UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES.

<<BLACK WORKERS AT HANFORD WORKED ALONG SIDE WHITE, BUT LIKE THE WOMEN, LIVED IN SEPARATE BARRACKS.

<<I DIDN'T SEE ANY ANIMOSITY.

WE WORKED WITH THEM ON THE JOB BUT THE LIVING WAS SEGREGATED WHICH WAS STRANGE TO ME.

SEGREGATED BY BARBED WIRE FENCES.

<<THEY BUILT TWO SOCIAL HALLS.

ONE WAS FOR WHITE PEOPLE AND ONE WAS FOR THE BLACK PEOPLE.

AND THERE WAS NO MIXING, JUST NO MIXING.

<<...THEY WERE HOUSED IN SEPARATE BARRACKS, THEY ATE IN A SEPARATE MESS HALL, THEY HAD A SEPARATE SOCIAL TAVERN, YOU KNOW, TO GO TO IN THE EVENING, A SOCIAL CLUB, BUT ON THE WORK CREWS, THE WORK CREW DURING THE DAY SHIFT AT WORK.

YES, THERE WAS INTEGRATION.

<<MANY FAMILIES BROUGHT THEIR LIVING ACCOMMODATIONS WITH THEM.

THOUSANDS OF TRAILERS ROLLED INTO HANFORD CONSTRUCTION SITE FORMING IT'S OWN SEPARATE COMMUNITY.

<<AND THIS WAS NOT A TRAILER LIKE WE KNOW NOW, THESE WERE LITTLE TRAVEL TRAILERS, USUALLY ABOUT 150 SQUARE FEET.

<<THESE TRAILERS ARE SO SMALL YOU COULD SIT AT THE DINING ROOM TABLE AND YOU COULD REACH THE FRONT DOOR AND TOUCH THE BED WITHOUT GETTING UP.

<<NO BATHROOMS.

THEY BUILT BATHHOUSES.

AND THEY HAD A JOINT AREA FOR LAUNDRY AND THOSE LAUNDRY AREAS BECAME SOCIAL CENTERS.

<<IT SOON BECAME THE WORLDS LARGEST TRAILER PARK....WITH OVER FOUR THOUSAND TRAILERS.

<<...THERE WAS EVERY KIND OF TRAILER IMAGINABLE THERE.

BUT IT WAS QUITE THE SITE TO SEE, ALL THESE DIFFERENT KIND OF TRAILERS ALL OVER THE PLACE, AND THE LITTLE PICKET FENCES WITH A ROCK PATHS AND LITTLE GARDENS OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

<<YOU NAME IT, THEY DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD TO MAKE IT HOME.

<<WE USED TO DANCE ABOUT 5 NIGHTS A WEEK SO, EVERY NIGHT WAS A SATURDAY NIGHT.

<<CONSIDERING ITS ISOLATION AND ROUGH ACCOMMODATIONS, CAMP HANFORD WAS A HOPPING PLACE.

THE GOVERNMENT, DESPERATE TO KEEP WORKERS FROM LEAVING, SEEM TO DO OR BUILD JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO KEEP THE WORKERS ENTERTAINED.

DANCE HALLS, BOWLING ALLEYS, SKATING RINKS, THEATERS, TAVERNS, BASEBALL FIELDS.

<<SPORTS WAS REALLY HUGE THERE...ESPECIALLY BASEBALL... THEY WOULD ACTUALLY BUS IN TEAMS TO PLAY THE HANFORD TEAMS AND THEY WOULD HAVE HUGE TURN OUTS FOR PEOPLE TO WATCH THAT.

<<WE PLAYED CITY BASKETBALL, THEY HAD PRIZE FIGHTS, WE HAD DANCES, WE HAD BIG NAME ORCHESTRAS... <<WHEN BIG BANDS OF THE ERA, LIKE KAY KAISER, NEEDED A BIGGER VENUE, WORKERS BUILT A HUGE AUDITORIUM IN JUST SEVEN DAYS.

A WIDE VARIETY OF ENTERTAINERS PERFORMED AT CAMP HANFORD ...EVEN THE CIRCUS CAME TO TOWN.

CLUBS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF ALL KINDS WERE FORMED... CARD CLUBS, BINGO, TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, GAMES OF ALL TYPES AND A VARIETY OF BEAUTY PAGEANTS.

AND WHEN IT GOT HOT...A HUGE SWIMMING HOLE WAS CONSTRUCTED VIRTUALLY OVER NIGHT.

<<AND I TAUGHT SWIMMING THERE AND THEY HAD A MARVELOUS PROGRAM.

THEY HAD DIVING, SWIMMING MEETS THERE.

HANFORD ENGINEER WORKS WAS THE LARGEST CONSTRUCTION SITE IN THE WORLD AT THE TIME.

<<THINGS WOULD POP UP OVERNIGHT.

<< IT WAS JUST HECTIC, ALL THE PEOPLE THAT COULD POSSIBLE PUT TO WORK WERE WORKING ALL AT ONCE.

<<50,000 PLUS WORKERS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY WERE ASSEMBLED TO BUILD THE FIRST, FULL SIZE, ATOMIC REACTOR AND SEPARATION PLANT.

ALTHOUGH THE MAJORITY WERE CLUELESS ON WHAT WAS BEING BUILT...THEY DID KNOW IT WAS TOP SECRET... THEY KNEW IT WAS URGENT... AND THAT, WHATEVER IT WAS... IT WAS VITAL FOR THE WAR EFFORT.

<<IT HAD NUMBER ONE PRIORITY IN THE COUNTRY, BACKED BY THE PRESIDENT.

IT WAS IN A WARTIME PERIOD WHERE THERE WAS A DIFFERENT ATTITUDE TOWARD WORK I THINK.

YOU HAD YOUR ROSIE THE RIVITERS AND WE HAD OUR PEOPLE OUT HERE JUST AS DEDICATED.

GET IT DONE, GET IT DONE.

<<WORKING IN THE TOOL ROOM, IF I NEEDED A CUTTER ONE DAY, THE NEXT MORNING WHEN I COME TO WORK, WE HAD IT.

THE CASE AROUND IT HAD THE MARKINGS, EXPEDITE, HANFORD, MANHATTAN.

MANHATTAN WAS THE TOP PRIORITY OVER EVERYTHING.

<<DURING CONSTRUCTION, EVERYTHING JUST KEPT MOVING.

GROUND WAS BROKEN BEFORE ACTUAL PLANS WERE IN HAND.

<<YOU NORMALLY DON'T WANT TO HAVE THE SCIENTISTS YOU KNOW, FIGURING OUT WHAT IT'S GOING TO TAKE AND THE ENGINEERS THEN DECIDING HOW TO BUILD IT, ALL HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME, BUT IT WAS.

...THE PLANS WERE IN FLUX, THEY WERE NOT NAILED DOWN BEFORE CONSTRUCTION STARTED SOMETHING THAT HAD NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF IT WOULD WORK.

<<WORKING IN THE MACHINE SHOP I WOULD SAY 90% OF OUR STUFF WAS NOTHING OTHER THAN HAND SKETCHES....WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY DESIGN EXCEPT A CONCEPTUAL DRAWING.

WE GOT WAY AHEAD IN OUR EXCAVATION ON DIMENSIONS WE GUESSED WERE RIGHT.

THE DESIGNERS CAUGHT UP TO US ABOUT JUNE AND WE HADN'T WASTED MUCH OF ANYTHING.

<<WITH TECHNOLOGY ONLY DEMONSTRATED IN THE LABORATORY, THE PROJECT WAS A RISKY BUSINESS... <<THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY AFRAID THAT ONE OF THE UNITS COULD BLOW UP, THAT IS ONE REASON THEY'RE SO FAR APART FROM EACH OTHER.

THE REACTORS, THE CHEMICAL PLANTS, THE FUEL MANUFACTURING PLANT ARE SEPARATED AT HANFORD BY MILES.

IT WAS OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THESE ARE DANGEROUS THESE ARE UNTRIED.

THE COULD BLOW UP.

WE WANT REDUNDANCY AND WE DON'T WANT ONE TO DAMAGE ANOTHER.

<< THERE WAS A CONSTANT PUSH TO MEET DEADLINES, AND I THINK THAT WAS REFLECTED IN EVERYTHING.

THERE WAS THE CAMPAIGN OF SOME OF THE BILLBOARDS AND POSTERS OF THE TIME WERE VERY DIRECTED AT YOU WORKED SO THAT SOMEBODY OVERSEAS LIVES.

<<THE THING ABOUT IT WAS THE SPEED IN WHICH THE THING WAS BUILT.

I DON'T THINK THAT HAD HAPPENED BEFORE ANYWHERE.

YOU CAN ONLY HAVE THAT SORT OF THING HAPPEN WHEN YOU HAVE DEDICATED PEOPLE.

I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT CONSIDERED THIS AS IF THEY WERE DRAFTED.

<< THE WORKERS FELT THE URGENCY.

THERE WERE MANY PEP RALLIES HERE, MANY WAR BOND RALLIES, MANY SAFETY RALLIES, AND TALKS BY THE COMMANDER AND VISITING SOLDIERS THESE PEOPLE WERE WELL AWARE THAT THEIR WORK WAS IMPORTANT, AND THE AT IT HAD SOMETHING VITAL TO DO WITH THE WAR, BUT THEY COULDN'T BE TOLD WHAT.

<<SHROUDED IN THE DEEPEST SECRECY... ONLY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE KNEW THE TRUE NATURE OF THE PROJECT.

<<IT WAS AMAZING TO ME...I COULDN'T FATHOM WHAT WAS GOING ON I HAD NO IDEA, KNEW IT WAS A WAR EFFORT.

<<NOBODY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE BUILDING, NOBODY ASKED, AND THE MEN ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT TALK ABOUT THEIR WORK.

<<I COULDN'T FIND PASCO ON THE MAP AND I DON'T THINK ANYBODY ELSE COULD.I GOT OFF THE TRAIN LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN PASCO AND I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS COMING TO.

<<BASICALLY YOU DIDN'T TALK.

YOU JUST DIDN'T TALK.

IF SOMEBODY AT THE REC HALL GOT A FEW TOO MANY BEERS AND STARTED TALKING, FIRST THING YOU KNOW HE WAS GONE!

YOU NEVER SEEN THAT FELLOW AGAIN.

<<I ASKED THE BUS DRIVER WHO WAS MAKIN THE TRIP ABOUT 4 OR 5 TIMES A DAY HOW FAR IT WAS TO RICHLAND AND HE SAID "WELL I DON'T KNOW".

THAT'S HOW TIGHT THE SECURITY WAS IN THOSE DAYS, SEE.

<<WE'D GO TO A MOVIE AND THERE BE LETTERS ABOUT 4 1/2 FEET HIGH "SILENCE MEANS SECURITY."

<<HANFORD IS FULL OF CODE NAMES OVER THE YEARS THERE ARE ENTIRE MANUALSOF CODE NAMES... IT'S ALMOST LIKE A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.

IN WWII, RADIATION WAS REFERRED TO AS DANGER OR DANGEROUS.

HANFORD PRODUCT WAS PLUTONIUM, ALL THOUGH NO ONE KNEW IT PLUTONIUM IS PRODUCT AND URANIUM WAS BASE METAL.

<< YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE WAS YOUR JOB.

IF YOU LOST THAT CLEARANCE, YOU WERE GONE.

<<SHOOK MY FOLKS UP A LITTLE BIT WHEN AN FBI AGENT SHOWED UP DOWN THERE CHECKING ME OUT.

AND MY PARENTS TOLD ME THEY HAD FRIENDS COMING TO THEM ASKING WHAT'S YOUR BOY DOING UP THERE IS HE IN TROUBLE?

THE FBI DOWN HERE CHECKING HIM.

WHEN HE WAS ASKED WHAT THEY WERE DOIN OUT THERE HE SAID, "HELL, I DON'T KNOW, THEY COULD BE SPLITTIN ATOMS FOR ALL I KNOW."

AND BOY, HE WAS IN A LOT OF TROUBLE... <<THE TIGHT SECURITY POSED SOME UNIQUE CHALLENGES.

<<I THINK THE NEED TO KEEP CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT AND THE HANFORD PROJECT ITSELF WENT FAR BEYOND THE NEEDS OF THE WAR TIME NORMAL SECRECY.

AND IT TOTALLY COMPLICATED THE DESIGN, THE ENGINEERING THE CONSTRUCTION AND THE OPERATION BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE NOT TO KNOW WHAT THEY DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW.

AND IMAGINE TRYING TO BUILD A HOUSE WHEN ALL YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF WAS THE BATHROOM, AND YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHERE YOUR PLUMBING WENT AND WHERE THE WIRING CAME IN FROM, AND WHO ELSE MIGHT BE USING IT, AND WHAT THE TRAFFIC WAS GOING TO BE, AND HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN THE HOUSE YOU JUST WERE SUPPOSE TO BUILD ONE PIECE OF IT.

IT DIDN'T MAKE IT EASY.

<<...YOU ONLY HAD ENOUGH INFORMATION TO DO YOUR JOB AND NOTHING MORE.

<<IT WAS COMPARTMENTALIZED AND IF YOU WERE AN ELECTRICIAN YOU HAD SOME PLAN AND YOU RAN THIS WIRE, YOU DIDN'T ASK WHY YOU WERE RUNNING THIS WIRE, OR WHY YOU WERE INSTALLING THIS HUGE PUMP TO DO SOMETHING.

<<CONSTRUCTION WAS ON A GIGANTIC SCALE.

554 BUILDINGS WERE BUILT.

40,000 RAILROAD CARLOADS OF MATERIAL CAME IN.

780,000 CUBIC YARDS OF CONCRETE WERE POURED.

40,000 TONS OF STEEL USED IN THE BUILDINGS ALONE.

THE PROJECT REQUIRED 8,500 PIECES OF HEAVY CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT.

386 MILES OF ROADWAY.

160 MILES OF RR TRACK.

11,000 POWER POLES WERE ERECTED.

AND 900 BUSES, WITH A SEATING CAPACITY OF 30,000, WERE USED DAILY.

<<OF COURSE THERE WAS A LOT OF SUSPICIOUS OF WHAT WAS GOING ON.

EVERYTHING WAS COMING IN THE PLANT AND NOTHING WAS GOING OUT.

<<AT THE HEART OF THE HANFORD SITE, REACTORS CHANGED URANIUM INTO THE MAN-MADE ELEMENT PLUTONIUM.

AT THE CORE OF EACH REACTOR IS A LARGE GRAPHITE CUBE MADE OF THOUSANDS OF GRAPHITE BLOCKS.

EACH BLOCK WAS METICULOUSLY GROUND TO RIGID SPECIFICATIONS, THEN PLACED UNDER STERILE CONDITIONS.<<THE PRECISION IS AMAZING, GIVEN THE FACT THAT THEIR TOOLS WERE NOT GUIDED BY COMPUTERS.

THE FACT THAT THEY COULD MACHINE TO SUCH TINY TOLERANCES, AND GET EVERYTHING PLUM, EVERYTHING LEVEL AND EVERYTHING TO THE RIGHT SPECIFICATIONS, WAS MORE THAN AMAZING.

<<THIS CUBE OF GRAPHITE WAS ABOUT 40 FEET X 40 FEET X 40 FEET AND INSIDE THIS GRAPHITE THERE WERE BORED HOLES WITH TUBES INSIDE OF THEM THAT SLUGS OF URANIUM ABOUT 8 INCHES IN LENGTH WERE INSERTED VERY, VERY CAREFULLY AND THERE WERE ABOUT 70,000 OF THESE SLUGS.

AND WHEN YOU PLACE INSIDE THESE REACTORS A FEW 100 TONS OF THIS URANIUM FUEL IT INITIATED A CHAIN REACTION.

<<THE URANIUM ISOTOPE U-235 STARTS A CHAIN REACTION BY SENDING OUT NEUTRONS.

U238 CAPTURES SOME OF THOSE NEUTRONS, AND CHANGES TO PLUTONIUM 239... THE MATERIAL AT THE CORE OF AN ATOMIC WEAPON.

<< INSIDE THOSE REACTORS BASICALLY IT WAS A CHEMISTS DREAMS COME TRUE....WHERE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON A LARGE SCALE HUMAN MANKIND WAS ABLE TO TRANSMUTE, TRANSFORM ONE TYPE OF ELEMENT INTO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

<<THE NEXT STAGE OF THE PROCESS REQUIRES SEPARATING THE SMALL AMOUNT OF PLUTONIUM 239 FROM THE OTHER MATERIALS.

<<WHEN THE FUEL ROD IS IN THE REACTOR A VERY TINY PERCENTAGE OF IT TURNS INTO PLUTONIUM.

AND THE ONLY WAY TO GET THAT OUT IS TO MAKE THAT A LIQUID SOLUTION AND THEN CHEMICALLY MANIPULATE IT.

<<THIS PROCESS IS PERFORMED AT THE MATERIALS SEPARATION PLANT.

THIS HUGE WINDOWLESS BUILDING IS 800 FEET LONG AND HALF BURIED UNDERGROUND.

IT'S WALLS ARE MADE OF THICK, HIGH DENSITY CONCRETE.

BECAUSE OF THE INTENSE RADIATION, OPERATORS USED GIANT CRANES WITH REMOTE CONTROLLED HOOKS AND WRENCHES, AND OPTICS TO VIEW THE HOT PROCESS CELLS.

<<...YOU'VE GOT A VERY RADIOACTIVE LIQUID AND YOU CANNOT BE AROUND IT, IT LITERALLY WOULD KILL YOU WITHIN A FEW MINUTES.

SO THE PLANT WAS DESIGNED SO THAT EVERYTHING WAS DONE EITHER BELOW A CONCRETE CAP OR BEHIND A CONCRETE WALL.

AND WORKERS WERE NOT IN THE VICINITY OF THE MATERIALS THEY WERE ACTUALLY WORKING AND IN SOME CASES MANIPULATING THROUGH PERISCOPES.

<<THE PLUTONIUM EMERGES AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING AS A HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE PASTE.

<<EVEN THOUGH THE PROCESS WORKED, THE AMOUNT OF FRESH CHEMICALS AND RAW MATERIALS THAT HAD TO GO IN ARE ENORMOUS COMPARED TO THE SIZE AND QUANTITY OF THE PRODUCT.

IN OTHER WORDS, YOU COULD CHARGE A TON OF IRRADIATED URANIUM INTO A CHEMICAL PROCESSING PLANT HERE AND COME OUT WITH LESS THAN A THIMBLE FULL OF PLUTONIUM PRODUCT.

OBVIOUSLY IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN A THIMBLE FULL TO MAKE A WEAPON.

<<IN SEPTEMBER 1944, THE FIRST REACTOR, B- REACTOR WAS READY TO START UP.

<<THE FIRST TIME I SAW A REACTOR IT LOOKED MONSTROUS, IT LOOKED SO BIG.

<<OF COURSE WE KNEW DYNAMITE WOULD EXPLODE AND THOSE KINDS OF THINGS, BUT WE HAD NO IDEA ABOUT NUCLEAR ENERGY.

WE WERE ALL GREEN HORNS.

<<ENRICO FERMI CAME OUT FROM CHICAGO TO PERSONALLY DIRECT THE LOADING OF THE REACTOR.

THE REACTOR COMES UP TO POWER AND THEN TO EVERYONE'S SURPRISE BEGINS TO SHUT ITSELF DOWN.

<<NOBODY UNDERSTOOD WHY THE REACTOR DIED.

THE POWER WOULD GO UP A LEVEL OUT AND GO DOWN LIKE THIS.

THERE WAS SOME THOUGHT THAT THERE WAS A POISONING OR A WATER THAT HAD LEAKED IN....NOBODY KNEW WHAT IT WAS.

<<IT WAS A BAD PERIOD BECAUSE THERE WASN'T THE CONFIDENCE THAT THE THING WOULD GO.

YOU COULD LOOK FROM THE OFFICE INTO THE CONTROL ROOM AND YOU COULD SEE THEM AND THEY'RE BURNIN UP THEIR SLIDE RULES.

<<THE STRANGE PHENOMENON PROVED TO BE XENON POISONING.

XENON, A FISSION BY-PRODUCT, GRADUALLY WAS BUILDING UP IN THE REACTOR ABSORBING THE NEUTRONS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN THE CHAIN REACTION.

DUPONT ENGINEERS, RESISTING PRESSURE FROM EVERY QUARTER, INSISTED ON BUILDING IN SOME MARGIN OF ERROR... INSTALLING 500 EXTRA FUEL-CARRYING TUBES IN THE CORNERS OF THE REACTOR.

BY DUMB LUCK, IT WAS THE EXACT AMOUNT NEEDED TO OVERRIDE THE XENON PROBLEM.

<<EVERYBODY BITCHED LIKE THE DEVIL AT IT BECAUSE IT TOOK MORE TIME AND MORE TROUBLE TO DO IT.

WELL THAT WAS THE THING THAT SAVED US, THAT EXTRA REACTIVITY, WAS JUST EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED TO OVERCOME THE XENON EFFECT.

<<ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1944, B-REACTOR SUCCESSFULLY PRODUCED IT'S FIRST IRRADIATED SLUGS.

<<AFTER ONLY EIGHTEEN WILD MONTHS, THE BOOMTOWN OF CAMP HANFORD WAS COMPLETELY CLOSED DOWN AND DISASSEMBLED.

NOTHING WAS LEFT BEHIND.

AS QUICKLY AS CAMP HANFORD SPRUNG OUT OF THE DESERT, IT BECAME A GHOST TOWN WITH LITTLE LEFT BUT THE MEMORIES OF THE 150,000 OR MORE WORKERS WHO SPENT TIME THERE.

<<TO OPERATE THE REACTOR AND SEPARATION PLANT, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HIGHLY EDUCATED WORKERS WERE SENT TO HANFORD BY DUPONT.

MOST WERE COLLEGE EDUCATED YOUNG MEN IN THEIR TWENTIES... <<YOU HAD PEOPLE, ALMOST 100% ENGINEERS OR CHEMISTS OR WHATEVER THE DISCIPLINE WAS REQUIRED.

THEY SKIMMED THE CREAM OFF.

<<AND THEY CALLED HIM PAPPY 'CUZ HE'S SO OLD.

HE WAS 32 AT THE TIME.

<<THESE OPERATIONS WORKERS WOULD NEED PERMANENT HOUSING A SAFE DISTANCE FROM HANFORD.

THE OLD TOWN SITE OF RICHLAND SEEMED THE PERFECT LOCATION.

DUPONT HIRED ALBIN PEARSON, A WELL-KNOWN ARCHITECT OUT OF SPOKANE TO DESIGN THE NEW RICHLAND VILLAGE.

PEARSON HAD ASSISTED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FAMOUS DAVENPORT HOTEL AND OTHER NOTABLE PROPERTIES IN THE INLAND NORTHWEST.

<<THEY CONTACTED HIM IN MARCH OF 43 AND BASICALLY HE HAD TO COME UP WITH ONE HOUSE PLAN WITHIN A WEEK.

NOT A WHOLE LOT OF TIME.

AS IT TURNS OUT, HE WAS THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB.

<<ORIGINALLY PEARSON PLANNED FOR 6,500 HOMES BUT THAT QUICKLY CHANGED TO 22,000 BY WARS END... << THE MILITARY WANTED A STRICTLY ECONOMIC MINIMAL TYPE OF A BASIC TYPE OF HOUSING, AND OF COURSE PEARSON BEING THE ARCHITECT HE WAS AND DOING A LOT OF TRADITIONAL DESIGNS HE WANTED TO HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER RESPITE TO WORKERS FROM THE INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS OUT IN HANFORD.

PEARSON WORKED TO FIND A COMPROMISE.

8 STYLES OF HOMES WERE DESIGNED- CALLED THE ALPHABET HOMES.

<<EVERYBODY HAD A LETTERED HOUSE OURS WAS A "Y".

THERE WERE 1000 OF THEM, ALL ALIKE.

AND IF YOU WERE, COMING HOME LATE AT NIGHT AND YOU WANTED TO BE SURE YOU GOT THE RIGHT ONE.

<<PEOPLE WOULD GET ON A WAITING LIST FOR A HOUSE, AND I'M NOT TALKING JUST A COUPLE DOZEN PEOPLE, I'M TALKING ABOUT 100S OF PEOPLE WAITING, WAITING FOR HOUSES, AND THEY WOULD LITERALLY BE MOVING THEM IN AS THEY'RE PULLING THE PAINTING TARPS OUT THE DOOR.

<<AND WE'D GO DOWN, OH, EVERY WEEK, SOMETIMES 2 TIMES A WEEK, TO CHECK THE LIST AND SEE IF OUR NAME WAS POSTED.

<<RICHLAND VILLAGE WAS GOVERNMENT OWNED AND OPERATED.

<<EVERYBODY WHO LIVED IN RICHLAND WORKED AT THE SITE.

IF YOU DID NOT HAVE A JOB RELATED TO THE HANFORD SITE, YOU DID NOT LIVE IN RICHLAND.

AND IF YOU LOST YOUR JOB, YOU WOULD MOVE OUT.

IT WAS A COMPANY TOWN.

<<IF I CAN REMEMBER RIGHT WE PAID $25 A MONTH AND THAT INCLUDED LIGHTS AND HEAT AND EVERYTHING.

IF YOU HAD A LEAKING WATER FAUCET, YOU CALLED THE CITY AND THEY WOULD SEND A PLUMBER OUT TO TAKE CARE OF THAT FOR YOU.

<<THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO CRIME AT ALL IN THE TOWN, THERE WAS NO ONE LIVING HERE WHO DIDN'T HAVE A JOB AND A SECURITY CLEARANCE.

<< ALTHOUGH CRIME WAS NONE EXISTENCE, THE ISOLATION AND LIVING CONDITIONS WERE CHALLENGING TO SAY THE LEAST.

<<RICHLAND WAS STILL ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES TO LIVE IN.

<<WE HAD NO SIDEWALKS, NO GRASS, NO TREES AND WHEN THE WIND BLEW, WE JUST GAVE OUR KIDS SPOONS BY THE FRONT DOOR AND LET 'EM PLAY IN THE SAND PILES, 'CUZ WE COULDN'T KEEP THE SAND OUT... <<WE KEPT THE VACUUM CLEANER SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM AND THE WIFE KEPT IT PRETTY BUSY.

<<WE LINED UP FOR OUR MAIL.

SOMETIMES YOU'D STAND IN LINE FOR A BLOCK TO GET DOWN TO THE TINY LITTLE POST OFFICE.

AND FIND OUT YOU'D BEEN STANDING THERE FOR AND HOUR AND YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY MAIL.

<<IT WAS PRETTY TOUGH, BUT WE WERE YOUNG.

HECK, WHAT, I WAS IN MY EARLY TWENTIES.

<<CARTOONS, ESPECIALLY LOCAL CARTOONS, GIVE YOU A PICTURE OF WHAT PEOPLE DEALING WITH IN THEIR EVERYDAY LIFE.

THEY'RE FOCUSING ON WHAT PEOPLES' PROBLEMS ARE.

YOU HAVE TO POKE FUN AT STUFF TO SURVIVE.

LAUGHTER AND HUMOR IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES THERE IS.

<<DUPUS BOOMER IS JUST SUCH A CARTOON CHARACTER.... CREATED BY HANFORD WORKER DICK DONNELL.

THE DUP STANDS FOR DUPONT AND THE US STANDS FOR THE UNITED STATES.

<<IT RAN IN THE WEEKLY PAPER, AND PEOPLE HAVE TOLD ME HOW, YOU KNOW, WHEN THEY GOT THEIR VILLAGER EVERY WEEK, THE FIRST THING WOULD BE TO TURN TO PAGE 4 AND SEE WHAT DUPUS BOOMER HAD BEEN DOING.

AND IT WAS ALL STUFF THAT THEY COULD RELATE TO.

<<MY FAVORITE SHOWS A LITTLE KID WALKING WITH HIS DAD AND ITS KIND OF A DESOLATE LOOKING PLACE AND THIS KID SAYS "HEY POP, HOW FAR ARE WE FROM THE UNITED STATES?"

<<DUPUS BOOMER LIVED IN ONE OF THE 1800 PRE FABRICATED HOUSES BROUGHT TO RICHLAND.

<<BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT KEEP UP WITH BUILDING HOUSES FAST ENOUGH, THEY HAD TO BRING IN THESE PREFABRICATED HOMES.

<<THEY BROUGHT THEM INTO RICHLAND ON RR FLATCARS AND TRUCKS.

AND THEY COULD SET THESE UP IN AN 8-HR DAY, FROM I MEAN THE BARE LOT TO HAVING IT READY TO OCCUPY THAT NIGHT.

<<THEY WERE BUILT TO ONLY LAST SEVEN YEARS AND THEY'RE STILL THERE.

<<...THOSE ONE-BED PREFABS LOOK LIKE TRAILERS.

AND THAT WAS ONE OF THE DUPUS BOOMER CARTOONS.

HERE'S THE FAMILY GOING DOWN THE ROAD IN THEIR CAR AND THEY'RE PULLING THEIR PREFAB BEHIND THEM AND THE OFFICER HAS STOPPED THEM, AND THE CAPTION IS, WE PROMISE WE'LL BRING IT BACK BY MONDAY OFFICER.

<<TO HELP SUPPORT THE TROOPS, WORKERS WERE ASKED TO DONATE ONE DAY'S PAY TO HELP BUY A PLANE FOR THE U.S.

ARMY AIR FORCES.

51,000 EMPLOYEES ACCEPTED THE CHALLENGE, RAISING $300,000 TO PURCHASE A B-17 BOMBER.

<<AND, IT WAS PAID FOR BY THE ONE DAY PAY OF THE LABORERS; SO IT GOT THE NAME OF "A DAYS PAY."

<<I DON'T THINK I CAN TELL YOU ONE WORD THAT THEY SAID.

I WAS SO BUSY LOOKING AT THAT PLANE AND SEEING THE PILOT AND EVERYBODY IN THEIR UNIFORMS, AND THEN AS THEY TOOK OFF, IT WAS JUST LIKE A GREAT BIG SILVER BIRD, AND THE SUN WAS REFLECTING OFF THE WINGS, IT'S SOMETHING THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET.

<<THE DAY'S PAY WAS STATIONED IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER AND FLEW 67 MISSIONS.

<<ON FEBRUARY 5, 1945, THE FIRST SHIPMENT OF PLUTONIUM IS READY TO TRANSFER TO LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO.

<<THE PLUTONIUM AS IT LEFT HANFORD IN WWII WAS A SEMI-LIQUID, IT WAS KIND OF A JELL, ALMOST LIKE AN UNSET JELL-O.

<<THE QUANTITY WOULD FIT INSIDE A SMALL BRIEFCASE.

MATTHIAS DECIDES TO DELIVER IT HIMSELF.

<<I TOOK IT IN A PACKING BOX IN A LOCKED COMPARTMENT IN THE RAILROAD CAR DOWN TO LOS ANGELES AND TURNED IT OVER TO AN OFFICER WHO WAS SENT FROM LOS ALAMOS TO PICK IT UP.

...AT THE RAILROAD STATION THIS OFFICER CAME UP AND I SAID: "WELL, HAVE YOU GOT A LOCKED ROOM TO GO BACK TO NEW MEXICO."

NO, HE SAID I'VE HAD TROUBLE GETTING IT.

SO I HAVE AN UPPER, AN UPPER BERTH.

SO I SAID: "WELL, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GONNA BE CARRYING?"

AND HE DIDN'T KNOW.

AND I SAID: "WELL, IT COST $350,000,000."

THAT WAS THE COST OF OUR PROJECT UP TO THAT POINT.

SO HE KIND OF GOT A LITTLE BIT SHAKY AND WENT BACK TO THE STATION AND CAME BACK WITH A LOCKED ROOM THAT HE COULD USE TO GET BACK.

<<LATER SHIPMENTS WERE TRANSFERRED IN VEHICLES DISGUISED AS AMBULANCES AND MILK TRUCKS.

AT THE TRINITY SITE IN THE NEW MEXICO DESERT, A TEST OF THE PLUTONIUM BOMB WAS BEING PREPARED.

<<I SAID TO GROVES: "I'D SURE LIKE TO GO DOWN TO SEE THE TEST."

AND HE SAID: "WHAT TEST?"

HE SAID: "I JUST WANT TO BE ABLE TO KEEP ON WITH IT IF WE GET BLOWN APART."

<<EVEN AS THE BOMB WAS BEING RAISED TO THE TOP OF THE 100-FOOT TOWER TO BE DETONATED, NO ONE REALLY KNEW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN.

OFFICIALS WAIT JUST 6 MILES FROM GROUND ZERO....IT WAS 5:30 AM JULY 16, 1945.

IN THE DARKNESS ON A DESERT MORNING, IT'S JULY 16, 1945...THE ATOMIC AGE IS BORN.

A THUNDERBOLT GIVES A PREVIEW OF IT'S DESTRUCTIVE FORCE.

(EXPLOSION) JUST WEEKS AFTER THE TRINITY TEST, THE "FAT-MAN" BOMB, USING PLUTONIUM FROM HANFORD, IS EXPLODED OVER NAGASAKI, JAPAN ON AUGUST 9, 1945.

IT WAS THE SECOND ATOMIC BOMB TO DROP ON JAPAN THAT WEEK.THREE DAYS EARLIER, A BOMB USING ENRICHED URANIUM WAS DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA.

THIS IS THE RECORD...ENDLESS HOUS OF MAN WORK... TWO B-59S... TWO ATOMIC BOMBS, TWO CITIES.

THE TABULATION OF THAT RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.

ON AUGUST 15, 1945,... SIX DAYS AFTER NAGASAKI,... OVERWHELMED... JAPAN SURRENDERS.

WORLD WAR II IS OVER.

<<I REMEMBER DAD CALLING UP AND SAYING THE UNITED STATES HAD JUST DROPPED A BOMB ON A JAPANESE CITY.

THAT IT DESTROYED THE WHOLE CITY... UNBELIEVABLE AND THEN IT CAME OUT THAT THE PLUTONIUM HAD BEEN BUILT AT HANFORD.

<<BY THE END OF 1945, TWO MORE REACTORS AND SEPARATION PLANTS ARE COMPLETED AT HANFORD.

DUPONT'S OBLIGATION IS COMPLETE.

THEIR ROLE AT HANFORD IS OVER.

<<THEY DID THIS JOB ON A GUARANTEED NO LOSS OF MONEY, WITH A $1 FIXED FEE.

WHEN IT WAS ALL OVER, THEY COLLECTED ON 77 CENTS OF THAT FEE, BECAUSE THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE SAYS, YOU DID IT IN LESS TIME THAN YOUR CONTRACT CALLED FOR, THEREFORE YOU HAVEN'T PERFORMED ENOUGH TO EARN THAT $1.

SO DUPONT HAS, TO THIS DAY, A $.77 CHECK FRAMED AND HUNG IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.

<< DUPONT COMPANY I DON'T THINK THEY EVER RECEIVED ALL THE RECOGNITION THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE.

WHEN, WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE DESIGN AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THESE FACILITIES AND HOW SUCCESSFUL THEY WERE, RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING, IT IT'S ASTOUNDING.

<<EVENTUALLY, EIGHT REACTORS WERE BUILT ON THE HANFORD RESERVATION.

BUT WITH THE END OF THE COLD WAR, THEY WERE GRADUALLY SHUTDOWN.

LEFT BEHIND STANDS THE REACTOR'S SKELETONS STILL VISIBLE FROM THE COLUMBIA RIVER.

ALSO LEFT BEHIND, IS THE DAMAGE DONE TO THE ENVIRONMENT BY DECADE'S OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE.

<<WHEN ONE GOES BACK THROUGH THE HISTORICAL RECORDS THERE IS A TREMENDOUS FAITH THAT IS PLACED IN THE ASPECT OF WE WILL FIND SOLUTIONS IN THE FUTURE.

WE HAVE IMMEDIATE PROBLEMS OF PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION.

LETS GET THE REACTORS RUNNING, LETS GET THE REPROCESSING PLANTS RUNNING.

AND WE WILL DEAL WITH THE WASTE PROBLEM LATER.

THE SCIENCE AND THE TECHNOLOGY WILL EXIST .

<< IT'S IMPORTANT NOT BECAUSE EVERYTHING THAT WAS DONE HERE WAS GOOD.

IT WAS NOT.

A LOT OF MISTAKES WERE MADE HERE AND A LOT OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES BUT IT IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT SO DEFINE THE 20TH CENTURY, TO HAVE ATOMIC POWER TO HAVE HANFORD.

TO MAKE POLICY, SUCH AS THE POLICY OF MASSIVE RETALIATION.

THOSE THINGS ARE REAL AND THEY ARE PART OF OUR HISTORY AND WE WON'T UNDERSTAND THEM UNTIL WE UNDERSTAND HANFORD.

R-I-C-H-L-A-N-D <<TODAY, THE RICHLAND HIGH SCHOOL BOMBERS ARE VICTORIOUS.

THEIR MASCOTS, THE ATOMIC BOMB AND THE DAY'S PAY B-17 BOMBER AIRPLANE, ARE PROUD REMINDERS OF A GENERATION WHO CAME HERE TO WIN A WAR AND SECURE A PEACE.

THE COMMUNITY INHERITED A CONFIDENCE THAT SCIENCE, INGENUITY AND RESOLVE CAN MEET THE CHALLENGES OF TODAY AND THE FUTURE.

THE FOUNDATION OF HANFORD'S LEGACY STEMS FROM THE PAST LIVES OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHOSE UNPREDICTABLE DESTINY MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE ATOMIC AGE.