09.15.04

Senate Passes Cantwell's Hanford B Reactor Historic Site Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Senate passed Sen. Maria Cantwell's (D-WA) bipartisan proposal to preserve the site of Hanford's historic B Reactor.

"Today's action by the Senate will go a long way toward preserving Hanford B for future generations," Cantwell said. "Hanford B is a scientific battlefield that must be preserved so future generations to study a difficult time in American history, while recognizing the accomplishments of our Cold War veterans."

Cantwell's bill, "The Manhattan Project National Historical Park Study Act," (S. 1687) directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the potential for developing B Reactor and other key Manhattan Project facilities as historical sites. The Manhattan Project was the World War II effort to develop and construct the first atomic bomb.

The Senate approval comes on the same day that the House Resources Committee approved Rep. Doc Hastings version of the bill (H.R. 3207). Should the full House approve the legislation, it will be sent to the President for his signature.

Cantwell introduced the bill last September and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which Cantwell is a member, unanimously approved the bill in April.

In 1943, only months after Enrico Fermi first demonstrated that controlled nuclear reaction was possible, ground was broken on the B Reactor - the world's first full-scale plutonium production reactor. B Reactor produced the plutonium for the first-ever manmade nuclear explosion - the Trinity test in New Mexico, and for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Plutonium production at B Reactor continued until its decommission in 1968.

Organizations that support development of a B Reactor historical park include: the B Reactor Museum Association, the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau, and the Atomic Heritage Foundation.