Aug. 15, 2002: DOE wants B Reactor in Reach plan

DOE wants B Reactor in Reach plan

This story was published Aug. 15, 2002

By Mike Lee
Herald staff writer

The Department of Energy agrees that Hanford's B Reactor and other historic sites along the Columbia River should be incorporated into planning for the Hanford Reach National Monument.

That news, made public Wednesday, came as a response to concerns raised after the agency said in April that preservation of the historic reactor for public use was not a priority given the demands and costs of river corridor cleanup.

"We think it is very important that the Hanford Reach National Monument has significant content to recognize the Manhattan Project and Cold War, where the contribution and sacrifices Hanford workers and local citizens made helped end World War II and the Cold War," Keith Klein, DOE's Richland office manager, said in an Aug. 8 letter to the monument's citizens advisory committee.

"These efforts and results greatly impacted the history of the world," he said.

B Reactor was the world's first production-scale nuclear reactor, and it produced plutonium for the world's first atomic bomb and the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki to effectively end World War II.

Klein's letter did not address the costs of preserving B Reactor, but his comments are seen as an important development in the preservation effort. He also said other significant sites such as the Bruggeman warehouse and the Hanford High School building also should be included in the monument planning efforts.

"I hope we are able to find a way to have a community approach for these unique historic assets," said Klein, who already made it clear in April that public-use options of B Reactor could be viable if money can be found to support preservation.

Monument lands come within about 100 yards of B Reactor but do not include it. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected eventually to add selected cleaned-up Hanford lands to the monument.

Jim Watts, chairman of the monument committee, called Klein's correspondence "a very positive response" and said it bodes well for museum-building sentiment that runs deep in the Tri-Cities.