LANL may be part of a national project

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A pair of bills are making their way through congress, to establish a new Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

The park would include bits and pieces of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“The science, the physics, the great minds that were part of this project,” Ben Ray Lujan said.

That was New Mexico congressman Ben Ray Lujan recently testifying at a house sub-committee about this.

Lujan is one of three u-s representatives behind a bill in the u-s house.

Both New Mexico senator’s Udall and Bingaman are behind another bill in the U.S. senate.

The bills call for the national park service to take parts of Los Alamos, Key locations in the design and construction of the first atomic bombs, and open them up to the public.

Key sites in Oak ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington would also open up.

There is already debate about if the sites are something to be celebrated.

“History isn't always pretty, and I think it's important that we don't lose that history, or lose the ability to reflect on that history,” Ellen McGehee said.

The house bill is now waiting on a full vote on the house floor.

The senate bill has been referred to a committee chaired by Senator Bingaman.