A nuclear reactor's next life: Tourist destination?

A nuclear reactor's next life: Tourist destination?

RICHLAND — Stuck in time and place, B Reactor at the Hanford nuclear reservation is a monument of world history few get to tour.

Built in secrecy during World War II but dormant since 1968, B Reactor ushered in the atomic age as the world's first nuclear reactor, producing the plutonium for the first full-scale nuclear test explosion in New Mexico and the bomb the U.S. dropped on Nagasaki.

For generations, Hanford has been the bread of life for the Tri-Cities, from when nine reactors produced plutonium to now, when billions of dollars are paying for the world's largest environmental cleanup.

Proud of their nuclear heritage, Tri-Citians want the U.S. Department of Energy to give new life to B Reactor by turning it into a museum.

If that happens, several thousand more visitors a year will be able to stand face to face with the reactor core — and confront the issues of the soul that color the atomic age.