77 years ago atomic bomb fueled by Hanford dropped on Japan. Remembering it in Richland

Tri-City Herald staff
Thu, August 4, 2022 

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, will be commemorated in Richland with two events, both at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9.

The bomb dropped on Nagasaki 77 years ago, helping end World War II, was fueled with plutonium produced at the Hanford nuclear reservation site just north of Richland, Wash.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will join with the Pearl Harbor National Memorial for “Lights for Peace” at the fingernail stage off Lee Boulevard in Howard Amon Park.

The national park includes B Reactor at Hanford, which produced plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program starting in World War II.


The Mid-Columbia Mastersingers will perform and visitors can walk a path lit with luminarias for a quiet, contemplative experience based on their personal reasons for participating.

World Citizens for Peace will hold its 40th annual Atomic Cities Peace Memorial ceremony nearby in the Activity Room of the Richland Community Center, 500 Amon Park Drive, in Howard Amon Park.

 In this Dec. 7, 1941, file photo, smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo, File)

The program will include song, comments and prayer focused on remembering the past with hope for the future.

The model of the “Bell of Peace” given to the people of Richland by the mayor of Richland will be rung in memory of Americans who died at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the Japanese who died in Nagasaki.

The Bell of Peace was recovered from the ruins near ground zero in Nagasaki and rung each day to console survivors of the atomic bombing.

A photo from the U.S. Signal Corps shows the devastation shortly after an. atomic bomb with Hanford plutonium exploded over Nagasaki, Japan on Aug. 9, 1945.