RICHLAND -- It's a day for the history books. The B Reactor became a national historic landmark Monday.

The U.S. Department of Interior Secretary and Department of Energy Secretary flew from Washington D.C. for the big announcement.

Hanford's B Reactor was already in the history books as the world's first full-scale nuclear reactor.

Now, it means the nuclear reactor is closer to becoming a museum and open for more public tours.

The new status could get you more access to the site.

"Just three percent of sites that are on the historic registry actually make it to landmark status so lets give a round of applause, congratulations!" U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett said.

Bill McCullough has waited more than 60 years for this moment.

"These workers worked so hard," Manhattan Project Author and Historian Michele Gerber said. "They had such faith and patience and perseverance. They are heros, all of them."

It was the moment McCullough, and other former Hanford B Reactor workers, could see their accomplishments earn history's highest honor.

"Oh boy, it just makes me so happy to see it happen," Former B Reactor Control Room Operator Bill McCullough said. "It will enjoy to to be out here sometime and taking people through and sharing with them our memories."

"Before B Reactor, there was nothing like it," Gerber said. "And since B Reactor, nothing has been the same. This machine changed the world and everyone one of us standing here today."

World War II, the Manhattan Project, the Atom Bomb, the work of 51,000 Hanford employees - those memories of B Reactor - lie in the old halls, green machinery and control switches.

"Here's where the control room sat," a former Hanford worker said, pointing to Scarlett.

As part of their tour through the decommissioned reactor, DOI Secretary Scarlett and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Acting Deputy Secretary Jeffrey Kupfer sat down in the control room chair.

It's the same chair McCullough sat 60 years ago.

"There's so much this reactor has given, so much history behind it," McCullough said. "The time to build it, design it, it's just outstanding. It's got to be saved for future people."

And it will be saved.

The Department of Energy unveiled a plan to make the story of Bill McCullough, and his era at the B Reactor, open to the rest of us.

Right now, there are only a few public tours a year and they sell out in seconds.

"Expanding public access to a former nuclear site is no small task," Kupfer said.

But starting this spring, those tight security gates will open.

D.O.E said buses will take you to the B Reactor at least three times a week.

Or, you'll be able to drive your own car to the site.