Manhattan Project National Historical Park is a United States

National Historical Park National Historic Site (NHS) is a designation for an officially recognized area of national historic significance in the United States. An NHS usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject. The National Historic ...

commemorating the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

that is run jointly by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

and

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...

. The park consists of three units: one in

Oak Ridge, Tennessee Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 31,402 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak ...

, one in

Los Alamos, New Mexico Los Alamos is an census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, that is recognized as the development and creation place of the atomic bomb—the primary objective of the Manhattan Project by Los Alamos National Labora ...

and one in

Hanford, Washington Hanford was a small agricultural community in Benton County, Washington, United States. It and White Bluffs, Washington, White Bluffs were depopulated in 1943 in order to make room for the nuclear production facility known as the Hanford Site. The ...

. It was established on November 10, 2015 when

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

Sally Jewell Sarah Margaret "Sally" Roffey Jewell (born February 21, 1956) is a British-American businessperson who served as the 51st United States secretary of the interior in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017. Jewell was born in London and moved ...

and

Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...

Ernest Moniz Ernest Jeffrey Moniz, GCIH (; born December 22, 1944) is an American nuclear physicist and former government official. From May 2013 to January 2017, he served as the 13th United States secretary of Energy in the Obama Administration. Prior to t ...

signed the memorandum of agreement that defined the roles that the two agencies had when managing the park. The Department of Energy had owned and managed most of the properties located within the three different sites. For over ten years, the DoE worked with the National Park Service and federal, state and local governments and agencies with the intention of turning places of importance into a National Historical Park. After several years of surveying the three sites and five other possible alternatives, the two agencies officially recommended a historical park be established in Hanford, Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. The Department of Energy would continue to manage and own the sites while the National Park Service would provide interpretive services, visitor centers and park rangers. After two unsuccessful attempts at passing a bill in Congress authorizing the park in 2012 and 2013, the House and Senate ultimately passed the bill in December 2014, with

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

signing the National Defense Authorization Act shortly thereafter which authorized the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

Sites

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park protects many structures associated with the Manhattan Project, but only some are open for touring.

Hanford, Washington

* B Reactor National Historic Landmark – bus tours are available by advance reservation * the previous Hanford High School in the former Town of Hanford and Hanford Construction Camp Historic District * Bruggemann's Agricultural Warehouse Complex * White Bluffs Bank and Hanford Irrigation District Pump House

Los Alamos, New Mexico

The Los Alamos Visitor Center for the Manhattan Project NHP is located at 475 20th Street in downtown Los Alamos. This location is open Friday through Monday from 10 am to 3 pm. It is in the Los Alamos Community Building on the front left as you face the building from the street (next to the Los Alamos Teen Center). Visitors can learn about the Manhattan Project and related sites in the vicinity. There are three areas of the park located on

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

property. These locations are only open to the public by special bus tours organized by the Department of Energy: * Gun Site Facilities: three bunkered buildings (TA-8-1, TA-8-2, and TA-8-3), and a portable guard shack (TA-8-172). * V-Site Facilities: TA-16-516 and TA-16-517 V-Site Assembly Building * Pajarito Site: TA-18-1 Slotin Building, TA-8-2 Battleship Control Building, and the TA-18-29

Pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

Cabin.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The

American Museum of Science and Energy The American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) is a science museum in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, designed to teach children and adults about energy, especially nuclear power, and to document the role Oak Ridge played in the Manhattan Project. The mus ...

provides bus tours of several buildings in the

Clinton Engineer Works The Clinton Engineer Works (CEW) was the production installation of the Manhattan Project that during World War II produced the enriched uranium used in the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, as well as the first examples of reactor-produced plutoni ...

including the: * X-10 Graphite Reactor * Buildings 9731 and 9204-3 at the Y-12 complex * East Tennessee Technology Park, located on the site of the K-25 Building

References

External links