Jewell as well as other government officials did not consider the park a glorification of nuclear weaponry or war, but instead a retelling of the tale of the historical sites based on different perspectives, including those of Japanese.
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“It certainly is a celebration that we will be telling the story of these three important historical sites”, Jewell told reporters. “This gives an opportunity for those stories to be told in a new light and for a new generation to be able to appreciate them”.
Aside from grumbling by former U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, the critics have fallen silent.Harris Walker, acting director of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, said the park will recognize the accomplishments of the scientists and engineers who worked on the top secret project. “But there is also a message about nuclear weapons and Japan”.
The complex emotions the new park evokes were evident at Tuesday’s ceremony.
The park will be operated by the National Park Service alongside the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Work on the Manhattan Project, which conceived the atomic bomb, was commemorated in three sites: Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Hanford, Washington. McKellar, a Democrat, was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, responsible for federal spending.
Garcia understands the history behind the B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor. “I thank Secretary Sally Jewell and Secretary Ernest Moniz and the National Park Service for their work to establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park”.
“I was glad the war was over, but I hated that so many people got killed”, said Peggy Stuart, another Calutron Girl. “It was a powerful experience for her”, Jewell said. Millions of people were in danger, he said, but one of the big concerns for the US were the soldiers who were waiting offshore to invade Japan. She dedicated the Valles Caldera National Preserve, which protects a 13.7 mile wide volcanic caldera in New Mesico’s Jemez Mountains, just west of Los Alamos.
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“Oak Ridge and the Manhattan Project changed the course of history, and opened a chapter of development for mankind which continues 70 years later”, said event emcee Warren Gooch, the mayor of Oak Ridge.
