By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – A Washington State University Tri-Cities history professor is part of a history film focusing on the Manhattan Project that was recently in the category of “Outstanding Daytime Non-Fiction Special.”

Robert Franklin, assistant director of the ���سԹ� Hanford History Project and teaching assistant professor of history, was one of a handful of talent that starred in “” produced by based out of New Orleans. The project focuses on the three major sites that were instrumental in the Manhattan Project, which developed the technology and produced the plutonium and uranium for the world’s first atomic bombs: Hanford, Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The 70-minute film, which is also , has been shown to middle schools and high schools across the country throughout the last year, exploring the science, sites and stories of the creation of the atomic bomb.

Franklin, with his role and expertise on Hanford as part of the ���سԹ� Hanford History Project, was approached about participating in the project in 2019. That summer, crew from the National WWII Museum traveled to all three sites, using a local high school student as the host for each site and referencing local experts in the region on the history of each site as part of the film. Franklin had the opportunity to not only voice his expertise on the site as part of the film, but also provided input to the script.

Sara Cassin, a student from Delta High School, was selected as the local student host, who, with Franklin, led filmmakers through the B Reactor, the world’s first large-scale nuclear reactor, as well as other historical landmarks and buildings located at Hanford.

Franklin said even with the excellent production of the project, neither he, nor any of the members of the crew or other talent, anticipated they would be nominated for a Daytime Emmy for the project.

“I was kind of in shock when I found out,” he said. “Really, I was just a small part of the project – it was the folks at the museum who organized it, wrote the script and packaged the whole thing. But I am honored to have participated in it. I never thought I would say that I was in something that was nominated for an Emmy. It’s not a sentence I ever thought I would say.”

Franklin said to be part of a project that is now recognized with such a prestigious award is an incredible honor. He said working at ���سԹ� and bringing the knowledge he has gained and cultivated about the Manhattan Project, and specifically Hanford history, to students and the public is his dream job.

“Being able to teach in the classroom and bring what we’re doing with the Hanford History Project to students and further cement my role as a historian means the world to me,” he said. “The film was such a great project to be involved with. It’s such an incredible way to engage students and the public, and it’s just really well-done. It was such an honor to be a part of and apply even a small part of my work as a historian to the project.”

The will air at 8 p.m. Friday, June 25, on CBS. It will also be available on-demand and via streaming.

 

Media contacts:

Robert Franklin, assistant director of the ���سԹ� Hanford History Project and teaching assistant professor of history, robert.franklin@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� director of marketing and communication, 619-403-3617 (cell), maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University Tri-Cities will host a free seminar discussion on exclusion and segregation in the mid-Columbia region on Tuesday, Jan. 26, as part of the WSU Common Reading Program.

This event, which takes place from 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. online, coincides with the launch of the third book in the “Hanford Histories” series that documents historical accounts and realities of the Hanford Site and surrounding regional area.

Both the book and event parallel themes in this year’s WSU Common Read book, “Born A Crime” by Trevor Noah, who lived in racially segregated areas in South Africa.

“As part of the Common Reading program, WSU freshman read an assigned book that introduces students to the value of research, power of ideas and interconnected ways in which disciplines across WSU approach similar issues,” said Tracey Hanshew, ���سԹ� history faculty and coordinator for the event. “Because these conditions and societal views mirror local mid-Columbia history, the seminar contributes to the student experience by highlighting the common community value of the Common Reading program.”

As part of the event, ���سԹ� history faculty Robert Bauman and Robert Franklin, as well as Laura Arata, history faculty at Oklahoma State University, will specifically discuss racial segregation and resistance to discrimination in the mid-Columbia region.

“Racial segregation and exclusion are realities that some may find hard to admit occurred even in our own Tri-Cities regional community,” Bauman said. “The book provides a glimpse into some of those realities by exploring first-hand accounts from those who lived through them.”

The new book, “Echoes of Exclusion and Resistance: Voices from the Hanford Region,” draws reflections from a number of oral histories on the experiences of non-white groups in the Hanford region, such as Wanapum tribal members, Chinese immigrants, World War II Japanese incarcerated individuals and African American migrant workers from the South. The book was edited by Bauman and Franklin.

“While writing it, we had no idea how relevant conversations surrounding this book would be to today’s political and sociological context,” Franklin said. “These are true stories of individuals who provide a perspective of what it was like living and working in the Hanford area.”

Following the seminar presentation, a question and answer session will follow.

For more information about “Echoes of Exclusion and Resistance” and to order the book, visit .

 

Media contacts:

Tracey Hanshew, ���سԹ� scholarly assistant professor of history, 509-372-7390, tracey.hanshew@wsu.edu

Bob Bauman, ���سԹ� professor of history, 509-372-7249, rbauman@wsu.edu
Robert Franklin, ���سԹ� assistant director of Hanford History Project, 509-372-7678, robert.franklin@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� director of marketing and communication, 619-403-3617 (cell), maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Bruce Napier, a senior scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will discuss his work regarding the Mayak plutonium production site in Russia, which has many similarities to the Hanford Site in Richland, as part of a lecture at 5 p.m. on Oct. 30 in the Washington State University Tri-Cities East Auditorium.

Napier has been a principal investigator for several U.S.-Russian Joint Coordinating Committee on Radiation Effects Research projects, which have sponsored studies estimating radiation doses that were received by individuals or populations, as well as epidemiological studies around the Mayak plutonium production site.

Napier will discuss the history of the Mayak site and point out parallels and contrasts with the Hanford Site for his lecture at ���سԹ�. He will also describe the radiation doses received by more than 28,000 workers at Mayak and the 60,000 members of the nearby public exposed to atmospheric and river-borne releases of radioactive materials along the Techa River in Russia, in addition to the results of the associated health studies.

Napier works on the development and operation of models concerned with the environmental transport of radiological and chemical contaminants. His expertise and experience lie in the areas of radiation dose reconstruction, computer modeling, environmental analysis and human health risk analysis.

Napier was also the chief scientist for the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project that evaluated releases from the Hanford Site before becoming a principal investigator for the U.S.-Russian Joint Coordinating Committee on Radiation Effects Research.

He is a scientific vice president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, a fellow of the Health Physics Society and a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United National Scientific Committee on the Effects of Radiation.

This free public presentation is part of the Herbert M. Parker Lecture Series sponsored by��Herbert M. Parker Foundation, which partners with ���سԹ�.

 

Media contacts:

Wayne Glines, president of the board of trustees for the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, 509-366-8382, wglines34@charter.net

Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – In celebration of the 75^th anniversary of the Hanford Site, Washington State University Tri-Cities’ Hanford History Project will host and partner to offer several activities throughout the month of September that provide a glimpse into the unique history of Hanford and impact that it has had on the region, state and world.

“Hanford is a unique place with unique history,” said Robert Franklin, assistant director of the ���سԹ� Hanford History Project. “It is also a really complicated place with a complicated history, but that is what makes it interesting. It had a huge impact on the development of the city of Richland, and it had an impact on the rest of the world.”

Hanford is the location of the world’s first large-scale nuclear reactor, the B Reactor, which also made the plutonium for the “Fat Man” nuclear bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki in 1945 during World War II. It led to the creation of a variety of scientific and engineering discoveries and development of technology. It is now the site of the one of the world’s largest nuclear cleanup efforts.

“This is a great opportunity to learn more about Hanford and its impact, especially on the regional Tri-Cities community,” Franklin said. “We want to make people more aware of just how accessible historical resources for Hanford are in our local community, and we want to bring that history to our community.”

“People of the Manhattan Project: Building an Atomic City” exhibition��

Gallery Opening: 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Sept. 5 in ���سԹ� CIC Art Gallery

Gallery Exhibition: Regular campus hours through beginning of October 2019 in ���سԹ� CIC Art Gallery

Festivities will open the month with a “People of Manhattan Project: Building an Atomic City” exhibition at ���سԹ� that will feature a range of artifacts from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Collection and the Hanford History Project’s extensive collections.

A grand opening will be held 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. on Sept. 5 in the Consolidated Information Center Art Gallery at ���سԹ�, which is open to the public.

The gallery will be open during regular campus hours through the beginning of October 2019.

Day’s Pay Bomber presentation

3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Sept. 12 in the ���سԹ� East Auditorium

Individuals will be treated to a rare occasion when descendants of the crew who worked on the Day’s Pay Bomber will discuss the role of their parents in the war and the impact that Hanford employees made on the war effort.

The presentation will take place from 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 12 in the ���سԹ� East Auditorium.

The Day’s Pay is a large part of local history related to Hanford and the war effort, Franklin said. On July 23, 1944, Hanford Engineer Works employees each gave a day’s worth of their pay to purchase the B-17 bomber for the war effort, which is where it gets its name. It flew more than 60 missions in Europe.

Artifacts will be on display as part of the presentation, and individuals will get to view a rare clip of the plane being christened at the Hanford Construction Camp back in July 1944.

“Something Extraordinary – A Short History of the Manhattan Project, Hanford and the B Reactor” book launch

4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Hanford Unit Visitors Center

Local Tri-Cities independent historian C. Mark Smith and former Hanford physicist Bob Ferguson will discuss their new book “Something Extraordinary – A Short History of the Manhattan Project, Hanford and the B Reactor” during a launch from 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 13 at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Hanford Unit Visitors Center, 2000 Logston Blvd. in Richland.

The book provides a concise, but comprehensive narrative of the geopolitics and atomic research that led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.

Ferguson began a career in the nuclear field when he joined General Electric at the Hanford Site in 1957 where he trained and worked as a reactor physicist and reactor operations supervisor at the B Reactor. His career spans 60 years in the nuclear energy field, where he was also appointed the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Programs for the U.S. Department of Energy from 1978 – 1980 during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.

Smith spent 40 years managing economic development organizations at the local, state, and federal level. He is a Fellow Member and Honorary Life Member of the International Economic Development Council and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from former Washington Gov. Gary Locke in 2004. Smith retired in 2005 and began a new career as the author of a series of books that combine history, biography, and politics in 2008.

Atomic Frontier Day

11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sept. 14 at Howard Amon Park in Richland

The City of Richland and other community partners, including the Hanford History Project, are hosting “Atomic Frontier Day,” a family-friendly event that honors a community event popular in the early days of Hanford.

Festivities will take place from 11 a.m – 8 p.m. Sept. 14 at Howard Amon Park in Richland.

The day will bring back to life the 1940s era with music, games, a mess hall dinner, storytelling and Hanford-related exhibits. A parade will also begin the day at 11 a.m. along George Washington Way. For the full schedule, visit .

“We are recognizing Richland’s history and its connection to atomic history,” Franklin said. “We are not celebrating the bomb, but rather having a community celebration that remembers the burst of activity that created the City of Richland.”

 

Media Contacts:

Robert Franklin, ���سԹ� Hanford History Project assistant director, 509-372-7678, Robert.franklin@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – After seeing initial success in developing an ultra high-performance grout to potentially encapsulate solid secondary waste at the Hanford Site, (WRPS) is providing a Washington State University Tri-Cities professor and his research team with more than $300,000 to further the research.

The ���سԹ� team, led by civil engineering professor Srinivas Allena, is developing what is known as an ultra high-performance cementitious composite grout. The team’s final formulation will use industrial byproducts such as coal ash and steel slag that have the potential to reduce costs compared to commercially available and prepackaged high-performance grouts, while reducing the impact on the environment. The solid secondary waste it would encapsulate could include items such as used or broken equipment, contaminated tools and equipment that require stabilization and encapsulation prior to disposal.

WRPS is the ’s Tank Operations contractor responsible for managing Hanford’s 56 million gallons of highly radioactive waste and preparing it for delivery to the . The organization provided the WSU team last year with more than $140,000 to develop a grout to encapsulate solid secondary wastes from tank farms and future Waste Treatment Plant operations, and the team came up with several formulations. Now, the WSU team is further optimizing those formulations to produce a cost-effective and sustainable grout formulation.

The end formulation has to be able to handle large physical stresses while proving resistant to rapid freezing and thawing cycles, low porosity and long-term durability.

For one of their formulations, Allena and his team showed success in replacing a typical ingredient in commercially available encapsulation grouts, known as silica fume – a byproduct from the silicon industry – with a substance known as fly ash, which is a remnant product from burning coal in thermal power plants. The fly ash, often a waste product, would serve as a cheaper and locally sourceable option, in addition to reducing the amount of coal-based ash that is sent to landfills or returned to coal mines for disposal.

For another formulation, the team plans to replace fine sand typically used in encapsulation grouts with locally-sourced, larger-particle sand, which would not require a sieving process. The removal of the sieving process saves on cost and previous results have shown that the large sand-containing formulation holds the needed strength and low porosity required for an encapsulation grout.

The technique, though promising, is in the proof-of-concept phase. Any future use at Hanford would still need to meet disposal criteria for any given waste stream and undergo regulatory approval and any applicable permitting processes.

“We’re repurposing waste products and also reducing the cost while ensuring and enhancing the durability properties required for an encapsulation grout,” Allena said. “Our initial testing has shown good results.”

The team also plans to partially replace regular cement with blast furnace slag, which is a byproduct powder from steel industries. Using slag would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Cement industries cause approximately 7 to 11 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide,” Allena said. “Cement is made from the burning of limestone and leads to the release of a lot of carbon dioxide. Reducing the demand on cement by using slag will therefore reduce cement production and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.”

Allena said if they are successful with their end formulation, their grout has the potential to be used in a variety of applications, such as bridge construction, and has large commercial potential.

 

Media contacts:

Srinivas Allena, ���سԹ� engineering faculty, 509-372-7161, srinivas.allena@wsu.edu

Jeffrey Dennison, ���سԹ� director of marketing and communication, 509-372-7319, Jeffrey.dennison@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – The authors of a new book focusing on the beginnings of the Hanford Site will hold a public presentation from 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, in the East Auditorium at Washington State University Tri-Cities.

Authors Robert Bauman, Robert Franklin, David W. Harvey and Laura Arata recently released the book, “Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland to 1943,” which chronicles the early days of pre- and post-Hanford towns and the people that were removed to make way for the Hanford Site.

“The Hanford Site has a very interesting and sometimes even unsettling history, but it is important to tell all aspects of that story,” Franklin said. “This book focuses on the origin of that story and the people who were involved in those early towns. It’s a fascinating look into an early story that many people may not know.”

The Hanford Site is home to the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor, which was built over the span of a one-year period during World War II in secret. Plutonium produced at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, which was tested at the Trinity Site in New Mexico, as well as in the Fat Man bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. During the Cold War, the site expanded to include nine nuclear reactors and five large plutonium processing facilities, which produced plutonium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The facility is now being decommissioned and resides as one of the largest nuclear clean-up projects in the world. It is also the home of a commercial nuclear power plant known as the Columbia Generating Station.

In the early stages of the Hanford Site, families were relocated or were required to leave their place of residence in the Hanford area.

“All residents of the towns of White Bluffs and Hanford, and many of the residents of Richland, were required to move,” Bauman said.

The book is the first in a series known as the Hanford Histories that will be published by WSU Press, in association with ���سԹ�’ Hanford History Project. Other volumes are currently in the works, of which some of the topics will focus on science and the environment, race and diversity, constructing Hanford, the Manhattan Project and its legacies and an illustrated history of Hanford.

Copies of “Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland to 1943” may be purchased at the event with cash or check for $25. Or, they may be purchased online at the website. Authors will also be available both before and after the presentation to sign copies.

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Family is core to who Geoff Schramm is as a friend, a person, but especially as a father and husband.

It’s the reason why he decided to go back to school at Washington State University Tri-Cities in his late 30s – a decision that led to many people asking him, “Why?”

“I had a lot of people questioning why I would put this on my family,” he said. “It was a significant investment and time commitment not only for myself, but especially for my wife and my kids. But this is and was for them. In the long-term, I knew that this would put me on the right track so that I could make them proud and provide them with a life they deserved.”

Finding his path

After graduating high school at 18, Schramm had started to attend college in Walla Walla, but as the story goes, he met a girl.

Both dropped out of school so that they could start and raise a family. Eventually, he worked his way into a job at an assisted living facility, which developed into successful career. But the stress of his industry started to take a toll on his physical and mental health.

“I was doing really well at my job, so I would get recruited to help these struggling facilities,” he said. “My job took me from facility to facility. Often times, through these positions, I would have to get up in the middle of the night to help solve problems. The hours were really draining on me, and my wife and family started to notice.”

Post recession, he realized that he was going to need a college degree to help secure a stable life for himself and his family. Upon examining schools to attend, ���سԹ� made sense.

For one, the average age of student was slightly older than that of other universities. And for another, they had an environmental science program that Schramm knew would take him places in life.

In January 2011, with his wife’s hand in his, he walked up the steps to the ���سԹ� campus to start his first day of school.

“Attending ���سԹ� is probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” he said. “The connections I’ve made here, the mentors I’ve had, the external family that I’ve now gained as part of the WSU Cougar community, is priceless. I couldn’t be more grateful for the amazing opportunities I’ve had and people I’ve met through my experience at ���سԹ�.”

Developing as an individual and future scientist

Through his science courses, Schramm learned the fundamentals of science experimentation, procedures and more. He also developed a mentor relationship with Dick Pratt, the head of the environmental science program at the time.

“He really helped define a path for myself and what I wanted to achieve through my degree,” he said.

While attending classes full-time, Schramm earned a job with the ���سԹ� Career Development office as a career coach, which was followed by a position as a student mentor. He also got involved with several student clubs, and served as a member of TRIO, which provides support services for students who are first-generation, disabled or economically disadvantaged.

As a result of connections he made through school, he completed several internships. His first was with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which was followed with an internship with Mission Support Alliance doing biological monitoring. He also completed a six-month internship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

And prior to the end of his senior year, he decided to pursue a master’s program in environmental science because he knew it would be required for advancement in his career field. But while he said earning his undergraduate degree was for his family, his master’s degree was for him.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, bar none” he said. “But it was so worth it.”

When he walked across the stage at graduation to get hooded as a master’s graduate, which brought tears to his eyes, he knew he had made it.

“It’s amazing to look back on this long road and the thought that I’ve accomplished this all for myself and my family is so incredible,” he said. “Now, my kids are talking about how they want to go to college. I couldn’t be more proud.”

Living the dream

Now, Schramm works as an environmental quality engineer at Washington River Protection Solutions at the Hanford Site, developing procedures and monitoring data for the site.

And as an interesting turn of events, his wife, Trisha, is now pursing her bachelor’s degree at ���سԹ�.

“This university continues to change our lives,” he said. “This school has challenged and validated me the whole way. I am so grateful to ���سԹ� for what they have given to me and my family.”

For more information on the ���سԹ� environmental science program, visit��.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University Tri-Cities launched its first book for a new series known as the Hanford Histories during a launch event at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Interim Visitors’ Center, located at 2000 Logston Blvd in Richland.

During the launch, ���سԹ� history professor Bob Bauman and Robert Franklin, ���سԹ� Hanford History Project archivist and oral historian, talked about their book, “Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland to 1943.” The event also featured representatives of the Hanford History Project and Hanford Histories series partner and publisher WSU Press.

“The first volume in the Hanford Histories series uses oral history interviews conducted as part of the Hanford Oral History Project to tell the story of the towns of Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland in the years before World War II,” Bauman said. “Many people in the region know about the Hanford Site, but not many know about the towns and people that were removed to make way for Hanford. In many ways, those people and towns have been erased from history. This volume hopes to remedy that.”

Copies of the book are now available for purchase for $24.95 on the WSU Press website at .

Detailing the early days of pre- and post-Hanford

Franklin said the purpose of the book, as well as the series in general, is to examine different subjects and themes surrounding Hanford history through the voices of those who have lived it.

“Little could the residents of these communities imagine …. how radically their fates would diverge from their fellow frontiersmen with the arrival of government troops in 1943,” said Michael Mays, director of the Hanford History Project, in the preface for the book. “’Nowhere to Remember’ leans heavily on the oral histories that Hanford History Project and others have recovered over the years to recount a history that would otherwise very likely have vanished along with those displaced communities.”

Bauman said people represented in the first book tell fascinating stories of hardship, perseverance, community and displacement.

Hanford Histories as a book series

While the book is the first in the Hanford Histories series, other books will follow on Hanford, featuring subjects including science and the environment, race and diversity, constructing Hanford, the Manhattan Project and its legacies and an illustrated history of Hanford.

“Combining archival research and the narratives the Hanford Oral History Project has gathered since 2013, the books in the series balance the regional, national and international impacts of the Hanford Site,” Franklin said.

He said Hanford is often examined from the point of its environmental legacy, or as part of the much larger Manhattan Project or Cold War defense complex.

“These narratives often sacrifice detail and first-hand accounts for a wide scope,” he said. “It is our hope that by examining the history of Hanford through the words of former workers, residents of Richland and those affected by Hanford, that we can introduce the reader in a thoughtful and approachable way to this complex history.”