KENNEWICK (AP) — Legislation that would have made Hanford’s B Reactor part of a national park recognizing the development of nuclear weapons failed to pass on a vote Thursday in the U.S. House.
Congressman Doc Hastings says the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act is not dead and could pass before the end of the year on another vote. It would include Manhattan Project sites in Los Alamos, N.M., and Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The Tri-City Herald reports Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich spoke against the bill in debate Wednesday, calling the proposed park a celebration of nuclear weapons.
The B Reactor was the world’s first full-scale nuclear reactor and created plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in World War II.
The Senate has yet to consider a companion bill.
