A reader asks: Is the Hanford B Reactor tour radioactive?

IT WASN’T MEANT to be a Top 10 list.

My March 22 story, “10 Washington road-trip spots recommended by the people who know them best,” was a list I put together by talking to the locals, the park rangers and the managers who put together events.

Some of you must have been feeling a bit grouchy.

A road trip?

“Stay home. All the places you listed are overcrowded with tourists. It’s miserable on the weekends and holidays,” one of you wrote.

A visit to the B reactor at The Manhattan Project National Historical Park Hanford?

“Great article. But we stay far away from Hanford. Still too much radioactivity present,” was another response.

About the radioactivity concerns, I called Colleen French, program manager for the park. She said there are two tours offered. There are bus tours of what’s left of Hanford and White Bluffs towns, whose 2,000 residents were given 30 days to move decades ago to make room for the atomic project.

“Those tours are all in a buffer zone that was never the location of any radioactivity,” she says.

Then there is the popular B Reactor tour, in which visitors can sit in the same control room as when the reactor went critical in 1944.

“We monitor the tour path every day for any radioactivity,” she says. “There has never been any radioactivity.”

Also, the docents who host the tours all wear dosimeters that measure radioactivity. “Since the tours began in 2009, there never has been any radioactivity measured on those dosimeters,” said French.

The fascinating history of Ruby Beach 

“I am wondering about the origin of the name ‘Ruby’ in the section about Ruby Beach in the Olympic National Park. I am a former seasonal ranger at the park, having been stationed summers at Kalaloch from 1967 through 1976. The naturalists stationed with me at Kalaloch during that time explained the origin of the red sand as a result of Cedar Creek, which outflows at Ruby Beach, flowing through miles of sea-level cedars. where their branches, roots and fallen trees add tannic acid to the water, thus giving it a reddish or ruby color, especially in river channel sand. During naturalist programs at the beach, ranger-naturalists would often scoop out a glass full of creek water, calling it ‘Ruby Beach’ or ‘cedar tea.’ Can you check that out?”
— Claud Johnson, Bellingham

I asked Amos Almy, the Olympic National Park ranger quoted in the story, about the origin of “Ruby.” He emailed back: “Many rangers at Olympic use a resource called ‘God and Goblins: A Field Guide to Place Names of the Olympic National Park,’ by Smitty Parratt. Here is what is written for Ruby Beach: ‘Red pebbles vaguely resembling rubies; garnetlike sand; and pebbles of a peculiar, iridescent quality found on this beach probably account for the name. As the ‘rubies’ eroded from the bank, enterprising pioneers living nearby began practicing a unique type of fraud. They conned outsiders into investing in their ‘gold’ and ‘rubies’ and even went so far as to construct a fake refinery building. A photograph was even circulated, depicting smoke spewing from the building’s smokestack! Some local residents actually sold gold stock and blatantly told potential investors that gold was there for the taking. Traces of the old ‘refinery building’ still exist.’ This book was published (1984) after Claud’s time at Olympic, so they might have been told something different.” 

Yakima locals chime in

“In the article, Matt Brown from the Yakima City Council was quoted as saying, ‘Cruising was done on the Ave in the late ’60s and early ’70s. It’s been part of our culture.’ You have many readers, I’m sure, who would also be happy to let you know that in the ’50s, we were ‘dragging’ the Ave (Yakima Avenue) in the evenings. It was our way to wave to or be seen by other drivers showing off their cars. This was long before ‘American Graffiti.’ “
— Dave and Gail Parrish, Port Ludlow

“What’s this? No mention of the ‘Palm Springs of Washington’ when giving a shout out to Yakima? I think just about every native Washingtonian has seen the ‘Palm Springs of Washington’ sign when driving through Yakima on eastbound I-182. And how about the Stonehenge Memorial and the Maryhill Museum of Art along SR 14, before continuing west and enjoying one of the most scenic routes in Washington, with amazing views of the Columbia River Gorge?”
— Paul Black, Kent

What about the tulips?

“I can’t believe you didn’t include the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in your list. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival runs from April 1 to 30 and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. We are the largest supplier of bulbs and cut flowers in the country….