- Amaterasu particle (Wikipedia)
The Amaterasu particle, named after the sun goddess in Japanese mythology, was an unexpected ultra-high-energy cosmic ray detected in 2021 and later identified in 2023, using the Telescope Array Project observatory in Utah, United States. It had an energy exceeding 240 exa-electronvolts (EeV) and was inferred through the two dozen particles it sent toward ground detectors. This single particle appears to have emerged, inexplicably, from the Local Void, an empty area of space bordering the Milky Way galaxy. The single subatomic particle held energy roughly equivalent to a brick dropping to the ground from waist height.
- Manhattan Project B Reactor Tours (manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov)
The B Reactor National Historic Landmark is the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor and part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Park Service. Sign up for a tour and learn more about the people, events, science, and engineering that led to the creation of the atomic bombs that helped bring an end to World War II.
- B Reactor (Wikipedia)
The B Reactor at the Hanford Site, near Richland, Washington, was the first large-scale nuclear reactor ever built. The project was a key part of the Manhattan Project, the United States nuclear weapons development program during World War II. Its purpose was to convert natural (not isotopically enriched) uranium metal into plutonium-239 by neutron activation, as plutonium is simpler to chemically separate from spent fuel assemblies, for use in nuclear weapons, than it is to isotopically enrich uranium into weapon-grade material. The B reactor was fueled with metallic natural uranium, graphite moderated, and water-cooled. It has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark since August 19, 2008 and in July 2011 the National Park Service recommended that the B Reactor be included in the Manhattan Project National Historical Park commemorating the Manhattan Project. Visitors can take a tour of the reactor by advance reservation.