Reactor that made fuel for Nagasaki bomb declared landmark

Annette Cary | Try-City Herald

RICHLAND, Wash. — B Reactor has been designated a National Historic Landmark, an important step in preserving the historic reactor as a museum.

Lynn Scarlett, the Department of Interior deputy secretary, made the announcement Monday along with Jeffrey Kupfer, the Department of Energy acting deputy secretary.

B Reactor was the world's first full-scale nuclear reactor, built in 11 months as the United States raced to produce an atomic bomb during World War II.

The reactor produced plutonium for the first nuclear explosion in the New Mexico desert and for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. It continued to supply plutonium for the nation's stockpile during the Cold War.

Read the full story at tri-cityherald.com.

tool goes here

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

We welcome comments. To post one, you must sign in using either your McClatchyDC login or your login for Facebook, Twitter or Disqus. Just click the appropriate box below.

Please keep your comment civil, short and to the point. Obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. If you find a comment abusive or inappropriate, please flag it for the moderator by placing your cursor on the comment, then clicking the "flag" link that appears. Thanks for your participation.