And with a handshake, there’s a new national park. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shake hands immediately after signing a memorandum of agreement that created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Hanford, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)
After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.
The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.
The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.
Read the memorandum of agreement signed Tuesday here. See a story on the park and Tuesday’s signing ceremony here. See photos by the National Park Service here.
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