Officials want to turn World War II nuclear-weapon development sites into national parks
By Darryl Fears, Updated: Saturday, July 28, 6:43 PM
Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory was such a well-kept secret during World War II that most Americans still don’t know that it sits off one of busiest highways in the South.
Every year, streams of vacationers whizz by the complex that enriched uranium for America’s first atomic bomb project. It’s on the way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the most-visited U.S. national park. And every year, right about this time, the city of Oak Ridge, just west of Knoxville on Interstate 40, holds a Secret City Festival, crying out to potential tourists.
“They don’t even know we’re here,” said Katy Brown, president of the city’s convention and visitors bureau.
But a spotlight might shine soon on the Oak Ridge lab and two other largely forgotten Manhattan Project sites as the nation marks the 70th anniversary of the general order that established the world-shaking atomic research and development program.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/officials-want-to-turn-world-war-ii-nuclear-weapon-development-sites-into-national-parks/2012/07/28/gJQAWRATGX_story.html
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