From Secrecy to Transparency: Atoms for Peace at the B Reactor

The Manhattan Project was built on secrecy. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told the United Nations General Assembly that the United States would change course. His "Atoms for Peace" speech marked a shift in the American approach to nuclear technology, from secrecy to transparency. A panel in the History Room at the B Reactor, part of Manhattan Project National Historical Park, tells what came of it.

What the shift brought

• Nuclear technology shared. Countries without nuclear programs received nuclear technology — usable for peaceful purposes, but also for developing weapons.
• International monitoring. Nations began to cooperate in monitoring efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Founded in 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency works for safe and peaceful uses of nuclear technology, carrying out Eisenhower's idea of "atoms for peace."
• Lasting fears. Decades later, the risks of the nuclear age — the weapons programs of Iran and North Korea, and power-plant accidents such as Fukushima Daiichi — still stoke fear around the world.

Eisenhower's warning

At the end of his presidency, Eisenhower said: "As one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years — I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight."

The panel

Labeled "Present Day," the panel shows black-and-white and color photographs of delegates at desks in large meeting rooms. At the top is the blue and white flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency — an atom with elliptical electron orbits inside a laurel wreath. At the center is a blue and white three-cent U.S. postage stamp showing two globes circled by electron paths and the words "Atoms for Peace."

The History Room's exhibits follow the scientific discoveries that led to the nuclear age and the events that made the Manhattan Project so consequential. The B Reactor can be visited only on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.

Sources

Based on "B Reactor History Room: Secrecy to Transparency," National Park Service (Manhattan Project National Historical Park), a work of the United States government in the public domain.