04.28.04

Cantwell's Hanford B Reactor Historic Site Proposal Gets Approval From Senate Energy Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's proposal to protect Hanford's historic B Reactor cleared the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"The contributions to science and country made by former Hanford workers should not be forgotten," Cantwell said. "We need to preserve the B Reactor so that future generations will better understand the work of our nuclear veterans, their dedication to our country, and the difficult issues our country faced during the nuclear arms race era."

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.

Cantwell introduced the bill last September and today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved the bill, advancing it to the Senate floor. While no timetable for a full Senate vote has been set, Cantwell will work for final passage.

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.

Rep. Doc Hastings has introduced similar legislation in the House (H.R. 3207).

Cantwell is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.