Statement by Sen. Patty Murray to The Seattle Times
One of the things that struck me when I visited the B Reactor for the first time is
the enormity of it all—not necessarily the physical structure of the Reactor, but the
gravity of what happened there and the millions of lives it changed. It’s very
humbling, and I believe it’s why there was so much community support to create
the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in the first place. There is a story to
tell, from the ingenuity that helped our country win World War II, to the sacrifice
of local families—including friends of my father’s-- who packed up everything
they had in a matter of days and weeks to make way for a top secret mission, to the
devastating effects to cities halfway around the world, to the workers today who
are addressing the complicated cleanup.
The Tri-Cities community does an incredible job of talking about the forces that
shaped its past seven decades, and I want to do everything I can to help honor that
history and tell the whole story from a variety of perspectives, from the innovation,
to the sacrifice, to the humanitarian costs of nuclear war. It’s an important story
that I think really resonates as we continue to navigate our country’s role in what
can be a very dangerous world.