HANFORD, Wash.-Hanford’s B Reactor went critical for the first time in September of 1944 and the National Park Service and Department of Energy celebrated 80 years of history on Oct. 16.
The B Reactor becoming operational was a seminal moment in the development of the atomic bomb, according to the Manhattan Project National Historic Park, with plutonium produced at Hanford used in the world’s first atomic test device detonated at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945.
Plutonium from Hanford was also used in the core of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945 that helped bring an end to World War II.
Guest speakers celebrated the B Reactor with stories of the work that was done there and of the advocacy to preserve the reactor, as well as the African American experience at Hanford and ongoing cleanup efforts, according to a post from the MPNHP.
The Mid-Columbia Mastersingers also performed at the event.
