The new three-part stamp features line drawings of the B Reactor at Hanford, Main Gate Park in Los Alamos, and the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge. Image Courtesy NPS
MPNHP NEWS RELEASE
Manhattan Project National Historical Park (NHP), releases a new three-part park stamp to celebrate the whole park and its individual communities. The new stamp features line drawings of the B Reactor at Hanford, Main Gate Park in Los Alamos, and the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge.
The Manhattan Project ushered in the nuclear age with the development and deployment of the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Most of the research, innovation, production, and weapons fabrication occurred in three primary centers of operation: Hanford (Tri-Cities), Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Today, Manhattan Project NHP has a presence and critical partnerships in each of these three communities.
“This stamp showcases a few of our key park resources, highlights the three park sites and communities, and reflects unity as one park that shares the sites, stories, and legacies of the Manhattan Project,” stated Park Superintendent Wendy Berhman.
The B Reactor at Hanford is the first full scale nuclear production reactor in the world. The X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge was the second nuclear reactor ever built and the first to produce measurable amounts of plutonium. Both facilities are National Historic Landmarks. Main Gate Park featured for Los Alamos is a re-creation of the historic security gate all Manhattan Project workers passed through to enter Los Alamos. The Department of Energy (DOE) owns and manages the B Reactor and X-10 Graphite Reactor in partnership with the National Park Service.
The new three-part stamp will be available at park visitor centers starting on December 1, 2023. Each park site will have its slice of the three-part park stamp. Collectors will need to visit all three park communities to complete the entire stamp. Upon request, the previous three-part stamp issued in 2015 is available for those who want to complete that stamp.