Atomic Travel: From Testing Grounds to Nuclear Facilities Tours

Locations in this article:  Chicago, IL Las Vegas, NV New York City, NY

Nuclear symbolThose viewing, please make sure that you have your safety glasses on and prepare for the test.

The blast will occur in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

Atomic tourism is a new style of travel that involves visiting places that are significant to atomic and nuclear history such as real explosion sites or museums.

Here are just a few of the glowing highlights:

Start off at the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada and learn the history of the American quest to create the first A-bomb. The museum is just a few steps away from the Strip and offers an educational component to your traditional Vegas debauchery.

Atomic Testing MuseumInside you will learn the world events that led to the establishment of the Nevada Test Site and the progression of atomic laws that moved testing underground, and to the ban on above-ground testing. The museum keeps visitors interested with interactive computers, multimedia programs, and an atomic explosion experience in the Ground Zero Theater. Lastly, see a replica of the Control Point where the countdown was conducted before each nuclear test. 702-794-5161, www.atomictestingmuseum.org

After learning about the history of atomic testing, visit the actual Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. The site was first established in 1951 and is now larger than the state of Rhode Island. The U.S. Department of Energy provides free tours on a monthly basis.

nuclear explosionThe tour lasts all day (7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) and you’ll need to bring your own food. Mercury includes many must-see sites including Frenchman Flat, where the first atmospheric atomic test took place, the News Nob, a viewpoint to watch explosions, and the Radioactive Waste Management Site for the disposal of radioactive waste from the dismantlement of atomic weapons. You can also see items from when Mercury was a booming town. Tours fill up quickly so book well in advance. 702-295-0944, www.nv.doe.gov/nts/tours.htm

Then head east to the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. No, you’re not there for a spa treatment or a round of golf; instead, you want to check out the underground Eisenhower-era bunker designed to house members of Congress and staff during a nuclear attack.

The 90-minute tour shows off the well-equipped bunker, including the sleeping quarters, cafeteria, health clinic with a full operating room, the decontamination chamber, the House and Senate chambers, the power plant, and the “pathological waste incinerator” (i.e. the crematorium). Notice the walls, which feature false windows complete with wooden frames and faux country scenes. 304-536-7810, www.greenbrier.com/site/bunker.aspx

Oak Ridge National Lab HistorySee the world oldest nuclear reactor in at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (about 25 miles west of Knoxville), a town that was established for the sole purpose of working on the Manhattan Project. The reactor was first established in 1942, used to extract plutonium from uranium.

After the war, the reactor was the first to produce electricity from nuclear energy and was used to study the effect of radioactivity on the human body. This national historic landmark offers guided  bus tours June through September. 865-574-7199,
www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/visting.shtml

Go to the Pacific Northwest and visit Hanford, Washington, a town that was completely evacuated by the federal government in 1943 to make room for a nuclear production facility aptly called the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The Hanford Reservation is known for producing Fat Man, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. When the government took control of the town, every single building was demolished and rebuilt, except the high school, which still stands today. Unfortunately, it is not in the best shape as the police SWAT team guarding the reservation was allowed to use the building for training and practice resulting in the school’s current sorry state.

Nuclear historyDuring the Cold War, the site was expanded to include a total of nine nuclear reactors and five plutonium-processing centers, which helped greatly in producing the 60,000 weapons in the U.S. nuclear reserves. The Hanford Reservation is closed off to visitors, except for the tour buses run by the U.S. Department of Energy that take visitors through the site on an ever-changing schedule, which is posted on the Department’s Web site. But atomic legacy is still lingers: In a nearby high school, the mascot is the “Bombers,” represented by a huge mushroom cloud behind an R. 800-664-0771, www.hanford.gov

Round out all of your new-found atomic knowledge by visiting the site of the first atomic bomb test, The Trinity Site. Included in the Trinity Site tour is the exact spot where the bomb was placed on a 100-foot steel tower and set off.

Also see the McDonald ranch house, where is the world’s first plutonium core was assembled along with many other historical photographs and stories. The site is not radioactive, but the Trinitite, a glassy, green substance also known as Atomite, located at Ground Zero, is still radioactive and should not be picked up. The site is only open to the public twice a year—the first Saturday in April and October. 575-678-1134, www.wsmr.army.mil/wsmr.asp?pg=y&page=576

By Courtney Crowder for PeterGreenberg.com.

Interested in unusual travel experiences? Check out the Weirdly Cool Museums of the USA, Unusual Underground Museums, and the World’s 10 Most Unusual Hotels.

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