RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — In a cramped control room, a bright yellow sticker cautions workers about critical radiation alarms. Now a novelty stuck on a wall between dials that haven’t spun in decades, the sign hints at the enormity of the plant’s mission.
The world’s first full-scale nuclear reactor is just one stop on a tour of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
The federal government created the site in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Today, more than two decades after it stopped producing plutonium, Hanford is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, and cleanup is expected to continue for years.
Still, the sprawling land of dust and sagebrush — about half the size of Rhode Island — will draw some 2,000 tourists this year.
Some seek the history of America’s radiation age. Others come to reminisce about the days they or their loved ones spent working in the desert city that sprang up overnight. And then there are those who are concerned about the government’s environmental stewardship.
Tourists aren’t allowed close enough to the cleanup operations to be in danger from Hanford’s contaminants, largely found in the soil and water. For people who want to see where their tax dollars go, or what environmental cleanup means, Hanford is the place to visit — sludge, toxic debris and all.
“We love to have people come,” said Michele Gerber, spokeswoman for cleanup contractor Fluor Hanford Inc. and a Hanford historian. “The American people own the site, and they ought to be able to see it.”
Tourism in the nuclear industry isn’t new. In 1949, the American Museum of Atomic Energy opened its doors in Oak Ridge, Tenn., guiding visitors through the peaceful uses of atomic energy. It has since been renamed the American Museum of Science and Energy.
The Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas traces a half-century of nuclear weapons testing, including the world’s first explosion of a nuclear device, the Trinity test on July 16, 1945. In Albuquerque, N.M., the National Atomic Museum offers exhibits and educational programs about the people and events that shaped the nuclear age.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which manages Hanford, posts tour dates on its Web site each spring. Visitors register online, and the bus tours fill up within minutes. Only U.S. citizens are permitted.
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