Atomic sites, museums open to the public

If you go

Titan Missile Museum: The only Titan II missile silo open to the public — http://bit.ly/gn5jze — is housed in what was once among the most secret locations in the country. About 20 miles south of Tucson, Ariz., take a guided tour into a Titan II silo about 35 feet underground. Experience a simulated launch. Among special tours: museum staff will lead you and a group on a desert hike to explore the ruins of a missile site virtually untouched since it was abandoned more than 20 years ago.

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History: In Albuquerque, N.M., the museum — nuclearmuseum.org — spans the dawn of the Atomic Age through the Cold War to modern nuclear medicine. Covers the secret Trinity test in the New Mexico desert. Has planes, rockets and missiles on display outside. Features casings of Fat Man and Little Boy bombs — the types dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Learn about the uranium cycle and take “Radiation 101.” Little Albert's Lab offers hands-on science for kids.

Trinity Test Site: Site of first atomic bomb test on July 16, 1945, located on the northern end of the White Sands Missile Range in south-central New Mexico. The 19-kiloton explosion led to a quick end to the war in the Pacific and ushered in the Atomic Age. White Sands hosts two “open houses” on the Trinity site every year, in April and October. Tours are self-guided. The next open house will be Oct. 1. Included is ground zero, where the bomb was placed on a 100-foot steel tower. Contact the base public affairs office — http://bit.ly/hhQKUI — for visitor details.

The Atomic Testing Museum: Minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, the museum — http://bit.ly/eoa05F — covers the Nevada Test Site, now the Nevada National Security Site, where atmospheric weapons tests were conducted from 1951 to 1962. Tours of the site — http://1.usa.gov/h4hPiO — 65 miles northwest of the city start at the museum, but book up more than six months in advance. See remnants of a house and bridge used for tests and peek inside one of the many craters that left the area a moonscape.

Hanford Nuclear Reservation: The world's first full-scale nuclear reactor is one stop on tours of the southeastern Washington state reservation created as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Now, more than two decades after it stopped producing plutonium, Hanford is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site. From a distance, visitors watch white-suited workers bury mercury-tainted soil in a landfill and see cranes building a plant to encase radioactive waste in glass. Tour details — http://1.usa.gov/goLFPL.

American Museum of Science & Energy: In Oak Ridge, Tenn., another Manhattan Project secret city, fuel was enriched for the world's first atomic bomb. A 20-minute video at the museum — http://bit.ly/dECc3H — goes into depth on the town's story. Includes photos, documents, models and hands-on activities. Other energy sources are also covered.