B Reactor History Room: Secrecy to Transparency

The Secrecy to Transparency exhibit panel in the History Room.

See exhibit panel for specific image credits.

Main Text
Text at the bottom left reads: “Founded in 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency strives for safe and peaceful uses of nuclear technology; bringing Eisenhower’s proposal of using ‘atoms for peace’ to fruition.”

At the bottom right, text continues: “Secrecy to Transparency - President Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ speech to the U.N. General Assembly in 1953 announced a change in the U.S. approach to nuclear technology, from secrecy to transparency. The repercussions ranged from providing non-nuclear countries with nuclear technology, which could be used for peaceful purposes as well as nuclear weapons development, to international cooperation for monitoring nuclear nonproliferation efforts. Decades later, the risks of the nuclear age, such as the nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, and nuclear power accidents such as Fukushima Daiichi, continue to stoke fear around the globe. Eisenhower displayed keen perception with this statement at the end of his presidency… ‘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.’”

Exhibit Panel Description
On the poster labeled “Present Day,” several black-and-white and color photographs show panels of people sitting at desks in large meeting rooms. At the top, illustrations on the blue and white flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency depict an atom surrounded by the elliptical orbits of electrons, nestled inside a wreath of laurel leaves. In the center, a blue and white three-cent U.S. postage stamp shows two globes surrounded by circular electron trajectories and the words, “Atoms for Peace.”

Visit This Exhibit Panel
In-person visitation of the B Reactor is only authorized on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.