RICHLAND, Wash. — As movie-goers flock to theaters this weekend to see "Oppenheimer," Christopher Nolan's Hollywood portrayal of the development of the atomic bomb, the world is reminded of Washington state's outsized impact on that period of American history.
While the A-bomb testing was being prepped in the desert near Los Alamos, N.M., a secret site was being created near Richland at what was known as The Hanford Site.
When the U.S. Government decided to build Hanford in 1943 at the height of World War 2, an estimated 50,000 people moved to the desert near the Washington and Oregon border. The influx quickly made the area the state's 4th largest city. However, many didn't know what they were building.
The top secret mission was to build the world's first full-scale nuclear reactor needed to develop plutonium needed for a bomb.
"The use of nuclear weapons put Washington state at the center of the war's final days to be sure," said Bruce Hevly, Associate Professor at the University of Washington.
Although the bomb was famously tested in New Mexico among other desolate locations, the plutonium necessary to fuel the power of the bomb came from The Hanford Site.
"Without the connection of Hanford, Oppenheimer's Los Alamos laboratory would have had little to do," he said.
The site itself was overseen by Army General Leslie Groves. Groves graduated from Queen Anne High School and briefly attended UW.
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