Hanford Reservation

The Hanford B Reactor, located on the Hanford Site in Washington is a plutonium roduction reactor that was constructed during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. The plutonium produced in this reactor was used in the first atomic bomb.

The B reactor played a major role in the birth of the atomic age and in the production of nuclear energy. It was designated a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1992.

The land on which the Hanford Site sits was ceded to the United States in 1855 through treaties signed with Yakima and Walla Walla Indians. This area remained unsettled except by Indians through 1860s, except for a trading post and ferry at White Bluffs.

Today there are 79 cultural sites on the Hanford Site, including this 1860's settler's cabin.

For more information on Hanford's history, please use this link.