World's first nuclear reactor now landmark

The world's first full-scale nuclear reactor, built in 13 months to produce plutonium for an atomic bomb during World War II, is now a National Historic Landmark, the US government announced on Monday.

The Hanford nuclear reservation's B Reactor produced plutonium for the first man-made atomic blast, the Trinity test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, and for the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug 9, 1945. The designation doesn't guarantee that the reactor will never be torn down but very likely opens the door for more public tours and moves it closer to becoming a museum.

"Building the B Reactor was a feat of engineering genius. So, too, was the construction a testament to the excellence of working Americans," said Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the Department of Interior. "There was no wiggle room for error."