Manhattan Project National Historical Park - B Reactor — Local services in Benton City

Richland Washington and the Hanford Nuclear site is steeped in history. It was this reactor that created the fuel for the atomic bomb that ended WW2. It is hard to describe the feeling being there, however it was clear that the best minds in the world worked tirelessly to win the war against the Germans and the Japanese. The tour is free of charge and I just happened to show up at the right moment and got on the bus. It’s 4 hours, about 2 of them is driving there on a bus. The tour is guided by nuclear engineers who explain in easy terms how everything works. The tour is EXCELLENT and I highly recommend it. I’ve posted a bunch of pictures ... Richland needed housing for 20+ thousand people ... they call them alphabet houses because you got to pick from the alphabet what kind of house you got. All built in 3 months. The roads are named after people who worked on the project (for...

I was in the area for work and just found out about this place by accident. Lucky I did. What a great and historical place. You get to tour the first ever reactor and it was used in the Manhattan Project. A bus will leave the visitor station and the docents will explain the history of the area while taking the 45-minute bus ride to the reactor itself. Once there you get a short introduction followed by a short walking tour through the building. After that you are free to roam around, take pictures and take to the docents and hammer them with all your questions ;). Dont forget to take the Pre-Manhattan Project tour as well. You get to see the whole hanford site as it was before the...

This tour is free. I recommend getting there at least 15 minutes prior to make sure you are not rushing for a seat for a video they play before you get on the bush to head to reactor B. I also recommend snacks and drinks since none are provided. The building does run pretty warm, but they do have one room for A/C to help cool you off. Besides all this, the tour has great information about the reactor and why that location was picked. They take you back in time when it was used and show you all the equipment and staff area for the reactor. I would highly recommend this tour if you are interested in...