B Reactor - Washington Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Text of the Sign:
In early 1943, during World War II, the United States Army hurriedly acquired over 600 square miles of land around the farming villages of White Bluffs and Hanford. Former residents, including Native Americans whose ancestors had traditionally fished and hunted here, were barred from entering the site. Complete secrecy surrounded the newly established Hanford Engineer Works
In the months that followed, nearly 60,000 workers built a complex of facilities that included the world’s first large-scale nuclear reactor - the B Reactor. The Hanford Engineer Works was part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a vast effort to design and manufacture the world’s first atomic bomb.
The B Reactor produced plutonium used for the first atomic explosion on July 16, 1945, at Alamogordo, New Mexico, and for the bomb dropped the next month on Nagasaki. The Second World War ended days later, with Japan’s surrender.
In 1968, the B Reactor ceased operation. Now, the U.S. Department of Energy in managing an extensive cleanup and disposal effort for the radioactive by-products at the Hanford Site.

Marker Name: B Reactor Marker Type: Roadside Town name: Mattawa Placer: State Related website: [Web Link] Date marker was placed: Not listed

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   09/23/2009 Volcanoguy visited it