Hanford

Hanford nuclear site solicits wacky names for its snowplows. ‘Snow-hattan Project’?

The Hanford site is asking for Facebook users’ best ideas to name its fleet of snowplows.
The Hanford site is asking for Facebook users’ best ideas to name its fleet of snowplows. Courtesy Hanford Site/U.S. Department of Energy

The Hanford nuclear site is asking for creative names for its fleet of snowplows.

The idea was sparked by a “Name the Snowplow” contest in Ohio that drew many whimsical suggestions — Blizzard Wizard, Clearopathra and CTRL-SALT-DELETE.

“Well, we’ve got plows, and they don’t have names. Can you fix that? Give it your best shot! We’d love your suggestions!,” the U.S. Department of Energy Richland Operations Office posted recently on Facebook and Twitter.

The post received dozens of name suggestions and more than three dozen comments.

Name suggestions run the gamut — from the creative to, well, the downright silly.

“Plowabunga,” one person offered.

“Snow-hattan Project,” another suggested, referring to Hanford’s original mission to produce plutonium for the Manhattan Project.

And, of course, in the spirit of reminding public agencies why they shouldn’t let the internet take public votes on naming stuff, there’s this one: Snow Trucky McSnowTruckFace.

Other suggestions included: Fast and Flurious; Snow White Bluffs; Weird Plow Yankovic; Snowscraper 5000; and Blizzard Buster.

WSDOT East also has its own fleet of quirky named plows.

Earlier this year, Betty Whiteout joined the ranks of named snowplows that include Sir Plows-A-Lot, the Big Leplowski and Plowie McPlow Plow.

Eric Rosane
Tri-City Herald
Eric Rosane is the Tri-City Herald’s Civic Accountability Reporter focused on Education and Local Government. Before coming to the Herald in February 2022, he worked at the Daily Chronicle in Lewis County covering schools, floods, fish, dams and the Legislature. He graduated from Central Washington University in 2018.  Support my work with a digital subscription
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