Timeline of Major Events
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1943 | October | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breaks ground to build B Reactor |
| 1944 | September 13 | First Uranium fuel slug loaded into B Reactor |
| 1944 | September 26 | Initial reactor criticality achieved |
| 1945 | February 3 | B Reactor Plutonium delivered to Los Alamos |
| 1945 | July 16 | B Reactor Plutonium used for first nuclear test explosion at Trinity Test Site in Alamagordo, New Mexico |
| 1945 | August 9 | B Reactor Plutonium used for "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan |
| 1946 | March | B Reactor operations suspended |
| 1948 | June | B Reactor operation resumed |
| 1949 | March | B Reactor begins production of tritium for use in hydrogen bomb |
| 1952 | November 1 | B Reactor tritium used in first test detonation of a hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll |
| 1968 | January 29 | Atomic Energy Commission directs shutdown of B Reactor |
| 1976 | Declared National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by American Society of Mechanical Engineers | |
| 2008 | Declared National Historic Landmark by U.S. Department of Interior and National Park Service | |
| 2009 | U.S. Department of Energy announces public tours | |
| 2011 | July | National Park Service recommends B Reactor be included in a national historic park commemorating the Manhattan Project. |
Read more about this topic: B Reactor
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