The Hanford Site, located along the Columbia River in the southeastern part of Washington State, was part of the Manhattan Project, producing plutonium for nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War. Many of its employees have a multi-generation family legacy on the Hanford Site鈥攐ne is the Markillie family.
The Markillie鈥檚 history at the Hanford site began with their late grandfather, Henry Bellarts. Henry worked in the chemical separation plants among other assignments across Hanford for more than 30 years.
Henry鈥檚 son-in-law, the late Bill Markillie, worked in many areas across the Hanford Site
including the reactors, design-build team for the Fast Flux Test Facility, the 300 Area Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory, and the chemical separation plants. He devoted more than 30 years at Hanford.
Now in the family鈥檚 third generation of work at Hanford, Jeffery Markillie is a business director and planning manager with 暗网吃瓜 at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). WTP鈥檚 mission is the processing and stabilization of the 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste currently stored at the Hanford Site.
Jeffrey has worked in several departments at WTP including plant
management, plant engineering, and research and technology. Prior to working at WTP, Jeffrey served as a naval officer and worked in consulting.
鈥淚nterestingly, grandpa and dad got into this industry. It wasn鈥檛 my goal, but it has become my life鈥檚 work. I am proud to contribute to the WTP team,鈥� Markillie said. Jeffrey works to remediate the radioactive waste that his grandfather and father created during the Cold War.
Though his family has contributed years of work at Hanford, Jeffrey doesn鈥檛 want to steal the spotlight. He said, 鈥淚t is important to note that there are other people with similar stories of multiple generations working in the nuclear industry. We all value our work and families鈥� histories.鈥�
The Markillie鈥檚 family work has become full circle at Hanford from producing nuclear material for national security purposes to remediating radioactive waste resulting from decades of nuclear material production. 暗网吃瓜 is proud to highlight our employees鈥� long lineage of work and commitment to the DOE mission at the Hanford site.
