Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Manhattan Project NHP Updates

Solar eclipse poster for the Manhattan Project NHP by Tyler Nordgren.

This summer has been an exciting time for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park (NHP). On July 25, the Manhattan Project NHP’s interim visitor center for the Hanford unit opened in Richland, WA, at 2000 Logston Blvd. The popular bus tours to the B Reactor and the prewar Manhattan Project sites will now leave from the visitor center. 

The building will also include office space for Department of Energy and National Park Service employees, and a space for souvenirs to be sold. At the center’s dedication, Manhattan Project NHP Superintendent Kris Kirby noted, “The Manhattan Project is controversial and complex, but it is also incredibly compelling.” The visitor center is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday during the tour season.

The Oak Ridge unit is gearing up for the total solar eclipse on August 21. The Manhattan Project NHP at Oak Ridge is one of the lucky National Park Service units that will be in the path of totality. Visitors can gather at the American Museum of Science and Energy to view the eclipse. The eclipse can also be seen in totality at Big South Fork Gateway Visitor Center. Visitors at Los Alamos, NM and Hanford, WA, will be able to see a partial eclipse

On July 23, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $8 million toward the K-25 History Center on the second floor of the city-owned fire station. According to Oak Ridge Today, about $20 million total is required to design and construct the K-25 History Center and the K-25 Equipment Building and Viewing Tower. This work is required by the 2012 agreement with the Department of Energy to mitigate the demolition of the historic plant.

On July 27, the Los Alamos History Museum announced that representatives of the museum, for the second year in a row, will travel to Japan for the anniversaries of the atomic bombings to attend the museum-memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

According to the Museum’s press release, they “will meet with their museum counterparts, visit with several project partners, tour the museums and memorial sites, and participate in the Mayors for Peace conference held in Nagasaki.” The representatives will present a gift of 1300 origami cranes, hand folded by visitors to the museum, to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They will also deliver a Los Alamos County proclamation of friendship to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

The release concludes, “The Los Alamos/Japan Project is a unique intercultural initiative to create understanding through shared history, partnerships, dialogue, and collaboration. Across our shared history we intend to illuminate multiple perspectives-scientists and survivors alike. In just one year since its founding, the Los Alamos/Japan Project is already inspiring a bridge of understanding between Los Alamos, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki-and making history around the globe.”