One Park, One Museum, One Stamp at a Time
Historic Reactor B TourAfter visiting with my grandfather again in the morning at Dry Falls SP, we packed up camp and hit the road for Richland, WA and the Manhattan Project National Historic Park. The Hanford Site is one of three parts of the Manhattan Project NHP, along with Oak Ridge, TN and Los Alamos, NM. The park consists of a welcome center with a few small exhibits on the outskirts of Richland and portions of site itself. You can book one of two tours offered by the park online in advance for free. They offer tours of historic Reactor B and of the former town of Hanford that was evacuated when the military arrived in the area. I had tried to tour the reactor years ago with a friend but life got in the way, so I was excited to spend the day at the reactor. We arrived at the welcome center about 30 minutes before our scheduled tour. They have a small exhibit area at the welcome center but overall there is not much to see. The Manhattan Project NHP has the traditional NPS stamp but they also have an awesome wedge stamp that combines with stamps at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos to make a circle. When your tour time starts, everyone gathers in a room and watches a video on the history of the Manhattan Project. The military needed a site to build the world's first full-scale plutonium production reactor. Hanford was chosen for its isolation and access to the Columbia River for water and power. The tour is at the reactor itself, which is about a 45 minute bus ride from the welcome center. With the two bus rides, the tour will take the majority of your day and you will want to bring snacks for the bus. We set out out for Reactor B around noon for our tour. The projected high temperature for the area was 117 degrees and we were boarding a bus to head off into the scablands. The majority of the Hanford site is under the purview of the Department of Energy, with the National Parks Service helping run the historic areas. The Hanford Site still has some active areas and there is a tremendous environmental clean-up taking place in some areas. You ride in the bus around the outskirts of the site and can see the government presence in a couple of entry ways. The tour bus pulls up to a nondescript gate in the middle of nowhere and the tour guide gets out and opens it to let the bus...pretty great to see after driving by the military entrance gates. The tour starts with a long and detailed presentation on the science and history behind Reactor B. If you do not enjoy science, you may fall asleep during this portion of the day. I now can fully describe the reaction process and design of the reactor in great detail. After this presentation, they lead you on a brief tour of the reactor and give you about an hour to explore on your own and take pictures. The temperature in the parking lot outside the reactor registered at 117 degrees, so we were a pretty subdued group after about 30 minutes of wandering around. You then take the bus back to the welcome center and conclude your tour. There are a few breweries and restaurants in the business park that houses the welcome center so you can grab a beer after a long day of history and heat. If you are a WWII history buff or into science, you will love this tour. I was impressed with the knowledge of the presenters and the amount of information I have retained from my visit. I would love to visit Oak Ridge and Los Alamos to round out my Manhattan Project stamp circle. New Units Visited: 1
Manhattan Project NHP Total Affiliated Areas This Year: 21 Total Units: 30
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