Tourism involving travel to nuclear sites From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atomic tourism or nuclear tourism is a form of tourism in which visitors witness nuclear tests or learn about the Atomic Age by traveling to significant sites in atomic history such as nuclear test reactors, museums with nuclear weapon artifacts, delivery vehicles, sites where atomic weapons were detonated, and nuclear power plants.[1][2]
Tourists at ground zero, Trinity site.
In the United States, the Center for Land Use Interpretation has conducted tours of the Nevada Test Site, Trinity Site, Hanford Site, and other historical atomic age sites, to explore the cultural significance of these Cold War nuclear zones. The book Overlook: Exploring the Internal Fringes of America describes the purpose of this tourism as "windows into the American psyche, landmarks that manifest the rich ambiguities of the nation's cultural history."[3][4][5] A Bureau of Atomic Tourism was proposed by American photographer Richard Misrach and writer Myriam Weisang Misrach in 1990.[6][7]
During the early atomic age fission was viewed as a sign of progress and modernity.
In this light Las Vegas became in the mid-1940s and early 1950s an original place of atomic tourism when nuclear tests were performed at Nevada Test Site. Seeing nuclear tests was advertised and viewings were hosted in Las Vegas at the time.[11] The city of Las Vegas and its Chamber of Commerce nicknamed Vegas as the "Atomic City" in an attempt to attract tourists.[12][13] So called "bomb viewing parties" took place on desert hilltops, or more famously at the panoramic Sky Room at the Desert Inn, and casinos held Miss Atomic pageants while serving Atomic Cocktails.[14][15][16]
Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau tour of the Hanford SiteNNSA-NSO-736
The Daigo Fukuryū Maru ship, a Japanese fishing boat that was contaminated after the Castle Bravo detonation in 1954. It is now on display in Tokyo at the Tokyo Metropolitan Daigo Fukuryū Maru Exhibition Hall.[17]
CFS Carp – also known as The Diefenbunker, a cold war nuclear museum in a former underground Canadian military facility outside of Ottawa
Three Mile Island was the site of a well publicized accident, the most significant in the history of American commercial nuclear power. The Three Mile Island Visitor Center, in Middletown, PA, educates the public through exhibitions and video displays.[23]
Windscale fire On October 10, 1957, the graphite core of a British nuclear reactor at Windscale, Cumbria, caught fire, releasing substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area. The event, known as the Windscale fire, was considered the world's worst reactor accident until the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. Both incidents were dwarfed by the magnitude of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The Visitor Center was closed in 1992, and the public may no longer visit, it has been turned into a center for supplier conferences, and business events.[24]
Coolidge, edited by Matthew; Simons, Sarah; Rugoff (forward), Ralph (2006). Overlook: exploring the internal fringes of America with the Center for Land Use Interpretation. New York: Metrolpolis Books. ISBN978-1933045337.{{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
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