Projects & Facilities

100 K Area

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Aerial photo of the 100 K Area at the Hanford Site in October 2022, with the "cocooned" K East
Reactor on the right, the K West Reactor on the left and the Columbia River at the top.

The K East and K West reactors and associated spent fuel storage basins were built in the mid-1950s in support of Hanford’s plutonium production mission. The fuel storage basins provided temporary storage of irradiated fuel discharged from the reactors prior to shipment to fuel processing facilities at the Hanford Site. In October 2022 workers completed construction of the K East Reactor Interim Safe Storage enclosure, a process known as "cocooning."

For more information, please see the 100 K Area Fact Sheet.

Two cement trucks are parked side-by-side outside of a building. Trucks deliver grout to the K West Reactor spent fuel storage basin at the Hanford Site. In all, it took about 750 truckloads to complete grouting. Photo circa August 2024.

This series of photos shows the grouting of the K West Reactor spent fuel storage basin. Workers removed nearly 1 million gallons of contaminated water before filling the 16-foot-deep basin with about 6,500 cubic yards of grout — enough to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools.

'Cocooning of the K East Reactor on the Hanford Site'

In October 2022, teams completed placing the K East Reactor in Interim Safe Storage to protect it while radioactivity in the deactivated reactor core decays over several decades.

Photo of worker using long-reach tools and underwater cameras to remove radioactive debris from the K West Reactor fuel storage basin circa June 2022.

Last Updated 10/03/2024 2:16 PM

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