"Trench 94"

[wlrun3@aol.com]

 I am starting a new Nukeworker thread for the upcoming book, "Trench 94".

   The book is about the one hundred plus boats of the cold war whose reactor compartments are now in trench # 94 in the 200 east area at Hanford. This "trench" is actually a wide open basin clearly visible on Google Earth. It is an east to west oriented rectangle with orderly rows of horizontally and vertically placed white cylinders in the center of the site. The book will contain a photograph of the trench and an index showing the number of each boat and its location in the trench.    

   If you have stories about any of the boats whose reactor compartments are in the trench, please post that story on the "Trench 94" Nukeworker thread. Full credit will be given in the Notes Appendix of the book.

    Thanks to the genius of Mike Rennhack those stories will be on this thread until Nukeworker dies.

   I was inspired to take up the glaringly obvious task of researching and writing this book after driving past the trench daily over the entire summer of 2010.

[duke99301]

I recall when I was up at the king dome going to a football game there was an anti nuke nut running for office . His soap box was the people did not want the reactors coming in to the state but what the heck he was from the west side of the state he should have been runnning on shutting down the ship yards over there. they were aready in 2 east anyways.

[Marlin]

Reactor compartments from both of my boats are in that trench, USS Spadefish SSN 668 and USS Hammerhead SSN 663. It would have been nice if at least one of the 637 class had been preserved as a museum boat as was the Narwhal and the Nautilus.

http://navsource.org/archives/08/100/0857524.jpg

Just moved my post over from the Hanford trivia thread.

[stormgoalie]

Drove by Trench 94 multiple times a week for several years while working IFS&M for ESHI. Always amazed at the size of the reactor compartments.  Seem to remember watching Greenpeace in their little Zodiac's trying to mess with the barge carrying the compartments to the offloading area.....

[retread]

Just moved my post over from the Hanford trivia thread.

Thanks Marlin, for keeping this in topic.  Fluffy Bunny would be proud!!   

[wlrun3@aol.com]

Thankyou Marlin,

   The numbered photo at the site you provided gives 77 boats. Google Earth dated 2010 shows 113.

   What I had in mind was a book similar to Blind Man's Bluff or Das Boot. A common thread of a story built from the experiences of those that lived in these boats that describes an even larger era.

   Richard Rhodes used Leo Szilard as this sort of central story anchor in "The Making of the Atomic Bomb".

   

[mwdavis]

I was amazed when I watched them move the reactor compartment off to the side in the drydock for Barb - SSN-596. Didn't take nearly as long to move as I thought it would. Took them longer to cut out the shielded tunnel to remove to fuel.

[wlrun3@aol.com]

Is there a central character that could be used to tell the story of the service and decommissioning of the cold war boats in "Trench 94"?

[co60slr]

Is there a central character that could be used to tell the story of the service and decommissioning of the cold war boats in "Trench 94"?

"41 For Freedom".   All dead and decaying (5.27 yr half-lives) in eastern WA.

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bigger/41forfreedom.html

[wlrun3@aol.com]

I was hoping that one individuals' story could be used as a foundation for the larger story. Is there such an individual.

[HydroDave63]

You know brother, part of graduating to the major leagues is learning that there is more than one significant half-life to think about,.....

Who the heck would want to be called "Zn65 Sailor" or "Tritium Boy"?

[co60slr]

In the context of Trench 94 perhaps some appropo nuclides as handles (user names) would be C-14, I-129, Ni-59, Ni-63, Nb-94, Se-79, and Tc-99.

You know brother, part of graduating to the major leagues is learning that there is more than one significant half-life to think about,.....

Part of not being a T-Baller in the Navy is understanding that there is a long list of radionuclides in those plants.   I still contend there's not THAT much difference between a civilian and military reactors other than size.   Well...at least that can be discussed.   Anyway...they both make a lot of energy.

The difference between a Navy T-Baller and a Navy Major Leagues player is that those of "us" that were not just T-Ballers knew this BEFORE they left the Navy.   However, since ELTs don't do many RAM Shipments (i.e., have to account for the entire list of radionuclides), I understand the revelation of other radionuclides upon entering "the real world". 

Co60 is clearly the one that is the biggest pain in the butt.   Now...see the correlation to my Profile ID?   Since Zn65 and H3 aren't huge energy emitters (or for that long), they don't make for good Profile IDs.  However, ANYTHING is better than being a not-so-manly "Fluffy Bunny". The irony is uncanny sometimes.

Tc99 becomes interesting when one of your workers tries to go through a rad monitor with some of it inside of him after visiting his/her Doctor.  Same with our friends who hunt in Canada, eat deer meat, and then find out later how much nuclear weapons fallout they also ate.   

However, unless anyone works in a radiochemistry lab in Oak Ridge, Bettis, etc...we don't appreciate the things that really go "bump in the night".   If any of those guys/gals are reading this thread, they're laughing at us as ALL being T-Ballers!

Which radionuclide is 10CFR20 most concerned about for inhalation hazard (DAC intake)?  Hint: Co60 is a tame one.

Co59

[TWillis]

I would tend to think...Th-232. I could be wrong, I'm in 835 world.

[co60slr]

I would tend to think...Th-232. I could be wrong, I'm in 835 world.

It certainly is in the "top 10".   Check out the annual dose possible:

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/weldingrod.htm

[wlrun3@aol.com]

How did Trench 94 get its name?

Atomic number of plutonium?

[thenukeman]

  trench 94

[matthew.b]

Where did the compartments from the cruisers & destroyers end up?

[wlrun3@aol.com]

Isn't the digital age astounding. I didn't know till researching your question that Hanford's Trench 94 is the only site for decommissioned reactor compartments.

   http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/NUCSAF/docs/naval_nuclear_reactor_fact_sheet.pdf?ga=t    

[wlrun3@aol.com]

Also relevant

    http://www.radiationworks.com/nuclearships.htm


     

[wlrun3@aol.com]

The Ship/Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) is the process the United States Navy uses to dispose of decommissioned nuclear vessels. SRP takes place only at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington

The only place these decommissioned reactor compartments are stored is Trench 94 at Hanford.

 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Powered_Ship_and_Submarine_Recycling_Program