Historic Tri-Cities towns ready to become a National Park?

RICHLAND -- Senator Patty Murray is touring the Hanford Site with Department of Energy officials Thursday.

She wants to see the improvements and preservation work the Department of Energy has undertaken in the five years since B Reactor was named a National Historic Landmark. Murray is also expected to talk about the landmark's 10,000 annual visitors and its impact on the Tri-Cities economy, as well as the potential for a National Park.

Murray's stop in the Tri-Cities includes touring the historic 1916 Hanford High School, the last remaining structure of the town of Hanford, and the 1900's era White Bluffs Bank, the last structure of  the town of White Bluffs.

Both towns were cleared out by the Army Corps of Engineers to create a security and safety zone for the waste treatment plant.

Both of the facilities that Murray is visiting, along with B Reactor, are listed in the House and Senate bills to hopefully become part of a National Park.