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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Gog the Mild via FACBot (talk) 30 March 2024 [1].

Hanford Engineer Works[edit]

Nominator(s): Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:32, 2 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This article was split from Hanford Site. During the FAR of Hanford Site, I decided to create a new article on the World War II establishment. This brings it into line with the articles on Los Alamos, Berkeley and Oak Ridge, all of which have subarticles on their role in the Manhattan Project. The sources complain about how Hanford has been overlooked compared with Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. This seems to be the case, but not for any scarcity of sources.

On Wikipedia the fault is mine. I began overhauling the Manhattan Project articles over ten years ago, but did not deal with Hanford, because Hanford Site was already a featured article. I did gather material though, and overhauling Hanford Site for its FAR made me aware of how poor the coverage of Hanford was compared with the other sites. So I took the opportunity to create this article.

It is a subarticle of both that article and Manhattan Project, and covers the site during the years of the Manhattan Project. The article contains a lot of beautiful images, many of which I located and uploaded specifically for it. The article has recently passed an A-class review that included source and image reviews.

Support from PM[edit]

I recently reviewed this excellent article at Milhist A-Class, and consider it meets all the FA criteria. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:09, 2 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support / Image review from Adam Cuerden[edit]

I've done an image review at Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Hanford Engineer Works, and would support the promotion of this article. I mean, I'm sure others will pick apart the text more than I, but I'm very happy with the images. Adam Cuerden (talk)Has about 8.8% of all FPs. 01:38, 3 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support Comments from JennyOz[edit]

Placeholder for now, will take a while. But... Hawkeye, I was just making my way up from bottom of FAC page and this nom doesn't appear there? JennyOz (talk) 07:26, 6 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's odd... the FACBot normally complains if a review has not been transcluded. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 11:09, 14 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Heightened security on email. Should be working again now. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 04:22, 18 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Hawkeye, told you it'd take a while! Lots of questions, most just for confirmation of intention. It was heavy going to read this as someone with very little knowledge of its subjects but I did find it very interesting and informative. I doublechecked it against the Hanford Site article and whilst there is a little unavoidable overlap, I find both articles can stand alone very well. I've added some Misc notes at end which you might (or not) prefer to read first.

I still though, per my note above of 6 March, don't understand why this nomination appears on here but not on here???

lede

Contractor selection

Land acquisition

Township

Richland

Personnel

Facilities

Separation

Operations

  • would require only a few kilograms of plutonium - convert
    Yes. Metric is the customary unit for fissile metals, just as troy is for precious ones. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 11:09, 14 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • containing kilogram-quantity shipments - convert?
  • On 10 March 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb struck a high-tension line running between Grand Coulee and Bonneville. This caused an electrical surge in the lines to the reactors. - did the Japanese know what Hanford was processing or just a coincidence in locality?
    No, they had no idea. But it caused quite a scare at the Manhattan District. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 11:09, 14 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Postwar

References

Images

Tables

  • Table Reactor startup - 'Charging completed' column is alone aligned right intentionally or make all columns right aligned? (and per Land acquisition table and Housing authorized table)
    Aligned left. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 11:09, 14 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Misc

That's me. Let me know any problems with my comments. JennyOz (talk) 07:49, 14 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@JennyOz: Everything okay now? Hawkeye7 (discuss) 04:22, 18 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, I've added 3 clarifications above and have one new question for you...
  • explosives department under Roger Williams known as TNX. - change "known as" to 'code named' eg this?
Pretty sure that's the last from me. JennyOz (talk) 12:33, 18 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nothing more of any importance so happy to add s'port. JennyOz (talk) 00:50, 20 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Source reviewish[edit]

Source formatting seems consistentish. Is Plutopia a reliable source? Leslie Groves was pretty deeply involved in the project, can we rely on his word in #177 and similar? I didn't notice any source that blatantly did not belong and the sauces used seem like the ones you'd expect on this topic, but this is hardly my field of expertise. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 07:53, 21 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Plutopia is a reliable source. It has won multiple prizes for historical works. The author, Kate Brown, is a is a Professor of Science, Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Groves's book is widely cited. In fact by all of the sources cited in the article except those written before it was published, including the official history. Groves was critical of historians who relied entirely on documents. Most of the references refer to his own motivations, or are duplicated by other sources. The outlier is, oddly enough, fn 177. When I double-checked I found another version of the story, cited by the National Parks Service [2] in which the sum is 32 cents. I'm going with Groves's and DuPont's version, which makes more cents, but am willing to remove the sentence if it is a problem. (Maybe @NuclearSecrets: will know more.) Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:29, 21 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Kusma (support)[edit]

Reviewing.

  • Lead: "The HEW erected 554 buildings". I may be misunderstanding things, but if the HEW it is a "nuclear production complex" I don't see how it can erect buildings; that would have been the HEW's owners?
    The HEW was an organisation. Attempted clarify this. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Construction commenced in March 1943 on a massive and technically challenging construction project." perhaps do not duplicate "construction" here?
    Deleted second "construction". Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Site selection: "Physicists at the Metallurgical Laboratory were more sanguine; Eugene Wigner claimed they could be built on the Potomac River near Washington, DC" here "they" are the reactors, not the physicists. It might also be better to first say what the security concerns before explaining that Wigner dismissed them.
    Attempted to clarify that they were talking about safety rather than security. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • "for planning purposes it was intended ... The ideal site was described by eight criteria:" I think it would be great to state in this section when exactly this planning took place.
    This was the plan at the meeting with DuPont in December 1942. Obviously some thought went into it beforehand. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Land acquisition: perhaps remind us who Stimson was
    Is this necessary? Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    It is not strictly necessary in the sense that (a) it would be a silly point to oppose over and (b) you have introduced him. My point is that I read this and thought "huh, who's that? Sounds like a powerful guy" and had to ctrl-F him (easy on my laptop, hard on mobile) so another word about him would be helpful. Perhaps it should be embarrassing for me that I don't know him. —Kusma (talk) 17:16, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Changed it to "Secretary Stimson" to remind people. I don't think he is well known at all anymore. To the people interested in the Manhattan Project, he is still a leading figure, and it has become what he is best known for. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:20, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Area E, which was acquired only if necessary" shouldn't this be "was to be acquired only if necessary"?
  • I don't want to get into it too deeply, as the article is long, and the subject is covered elsewhere. Added some more explanation. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • "On 1 May four tubes in D reactor were loaded with 264 slugs containing bismuth. The irradiated bismuth slugs were shipped to Los Alamos for processing" is this connected to the polonium production or is it a separate thing?
    Separate. Bismuth is irradiated to produce polonium, and "polonium was required for the Fat Man's neutron initiators". Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • "There was intense pressure [...] to produce more plutonium [..] in late July for operational use." is the (fairly euphemistic) "operational use" just Fat Man?
    Yes. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Postwar: from 1947, was the complex no longer called "Hanford Engineer Works"? Was there a new name for the facilities?
    It was no longer called the HEW, because it was no longer a military facility after 1 January 1947. Instead, it became known as the "Hanford Site". Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]


A very detailed article about an important part of the Manhattan project. Excellent work, but I think a few clarifications would help. —Kusma (talk) 22:38, 22 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your review. Much appreciated. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:27, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Happy with responses. Of course I have a different opinion on a few issues, but I am happy to support whether you do something about them or not. —Kusma (talk) 17:16, 23 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]


The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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