WSMR holds Trinity Site open house

Photo By Winifred Brown | Robb Hermes, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, talks to visitors during a Trinity Site open house at White Sands Missile Range Oct. 1, 2016. Photo by Wendy Brown, Fort Bliss Bugle  

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NM, UNITED STATES

10.01.2016

Story by Winifred Brown  

Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office

By Wendy Brown
Fort Bliss Bugle Editor

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. – Judging by the license plates on vehicles at the Trinity Site open house at White Sands Missile Range Saturday, people came from all over the United States to see where the world’s first nuclear bomb explosion took place July 16, 1945.
Barry and Dianne Lennox of New Zealand, however, might have traveled the farthest – more than 7,000 miles – and their visit was no spur of the moment side trip.
“We planned our whole six-week trip to the states around it,” Dianne Lennox said. They also visited Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition, they planned to visit friends and a few national parks.
More than 3,000 people drove to the location roughly 200 miles north of El Paso to attend the open house, said Drew Hamilton, acting chief of public affairs at WSMR.
Once there, visitors could see the obelisk that marks ground zero, learn about the science behind the bomb, take a two-mile bus trip to the ranch house where scientists assembled the bomb’s plutonium core and more.
Alice Hutchins of nearby Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, said she and her husband Michael, “a huge World War II buff,” recently moved to the area and wouldn’t have missed it.
“You know how you do all the cool things when you first move to a place? We’re in the process of doing all of them,” she said.
John Allan, who traveled from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to see the site, said he had planned on visiting for years.
“I always wanted to see the site,” Allan said. “I have an interest in nuclear science and it’s an important part of America’s history.”
In addition to historic photos and information on signs, WSMR officials had at least four scientists on hand to talk to visitors about radiation and answer questions.
Gary Matcek, a health physicist at WSMR, said while there is a small amount of radiation at ground zero, the risk of it harming someone is small.
“I can’t say a risk does not exist, but it is statistically so small I cannot identify it … Your risk in proportion is probably sunburn, snakebite and maybe dehydration,” Matcek said.
Installation officials open the site to the public twice a year, in April and October, and admission is free.
WSMR officials are proud to be stewards of the site, Hamilton said.
“We’re very excited that we’re able to open it up regularly for the public to come in and really experience what we have here,” Hamilton said.

• Date Taken: 10.01.2016
• Date Posted: 10.06.2016 16:19
• Story ID: 211465
• Location: WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NM, US