SPOKANE — Legislation to preserve Hanford’s B Reactor as a part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park was passed Friday by the U.S. Senate.
The provision was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014, and now heads to President Barack Obama’s desk for his signature.
Hanford, located near Richland, Washington, was created during the Manhattan Project in World War II to make plutonium. The B Reactor was the first full-sized nuclear reactor in the world and made the plutonium for the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
“Creating the Manhattan Project National Historical Park will open the doors for millions of Americans to learn about the scientific achievements made at Hanford,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who sponsored the legislation.
Cantwell and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., helped push the measure through the Senate, while U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., helped pass it in the House.
The defense bill also transferred a surplus 1,600 acres at the Hanford site to the Tri-City Development Council for economic development; expanded the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area by 22,000 acres; and designated the Middle Fork Snoqualmie and Pratt Rivers as Wild and Scenic.
The B Reactor is currently a National Historic Landmark. Elevating its status to a National Historical Park will ensure it will not be torn down and increase public access to the historic reactor, helping to attract more visitors to the Tri-Cities.
Also included in the national historical park are Manhattan Project sites in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.
“The historical significance of the B Reactor and the entire Manhattan Project is long overdue for national and global recognition,” said Maynard Plahuta, President of the B Reactor Museum Association.
The National Historical Park designation gives Hanford sites the same status as Independence Hall, Valley Forge and Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace, Cantwell said.
More than 7 million people visited Washington’s national parks in 2013, which pumped $430 million into surrounding communities and supported 5,269 jobs, according to a recent National Park Service report.
“Thousands of visitors will come to learn about the history of our region,” said David Rose, mayor of Richland.
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