[FONT=Verdana]Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have completed demolition of a former plutonium incinerator -- once one of the most contaminated buildings in the area where Hanford produced plutonium for national defense.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]From 1963 to 1972, the 232-Z Incinerator burned combustible materials contaminated with plutonium. Plutonium ashes recovered from the process were then used to produce nuclear materials. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Workers spent two years removing contaminated equipment and debris from the building, and began tearing it down June 11th. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Under a cleanup agreement between the state and federal governments, the U-S Energy Department must remove debris from the demolition site by September. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Hanford[/FONT][FONT=Verdana], in south-central Washington, was created in the 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. It is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to last until 2035.[/FONT]