Hanford Crews Demolish Support Facility Near Former Test Reactor

Crews with Central Plateau Cleanup Company have removed the 4710 Building at the Hanford Site. The building once supported the Fast Flux Test Facility, a nuclear research and test reactor shut down in 1993.

RICHLAND, Wash. — Crews have removed a large office building at the Hanford Site that supported the former Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), a nuclear research and test reactor.

The 37,000-square-foot structure, called the 4710 Building, provided office space for managers, engineers and other staff supporting FFTF operations. It’s one of several structures safely removed this year by contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company.

FFTF was a 400-megawatt sodium-cooled nuclear research and test reactor. Operating from 1982 to 1992, it advanced nuclear fuels, materials and reactor safety designs. The reactor was shut down in 1993. Crews completed deactivation in 2009, and the reactor was placed in long term surveillance and maintenance.

TIME-LAPSE VIDEO: Watch crews make quick work of a former Hanford office building.