The Manhattan Project Preservation Initiative is an outgrowth of the Departmental Corporate Board on Historic Preservation's approval in December 1999 of a complex-wide historic preservation strategy that would focus initially on the Manhattan Project. Recognizing the historical significance of the Manhattan Project and the fragility of structural and artifactual resources associated with the World War II atomic bomb effort, the Corporate Board directed the History Division to place top priority on developing an interpretive plan for B Reactor under construction at the Hanford Site the Manhattan Project concentrating on an initial list of eight historic "Signature Facilities" approved by the board. The Signature Facilities, taken together, provide the core for DOE's ability to successfully interpret, whether in situ or through museum or other interpretive settings, the Manhattan Project. The DOE History Division has prepared a brochure, The Signature Facilities of the Manhattan Project, which is available in paper copy on request.

In July 2000, the Corporate Board partnered with the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and convened a panel of distinguished historic preservation experts, who visited the Signature Facilities and delivered a report to Secretary Spencer Abraham in March 2001. The panel unanimously agreed with DOE that the Signature Facilities are of extraordinary historical significance and stated that they “deserve commemoration as national treasures.” Secretary Abraham promised that the report’s recommendations would be integrated into DOE’s planning for the Signature Facilities.

Efforts to develop potential preservation strategies Gun Site at Los Alamosfor the Signature Facilities have intensified at Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Hanford with active participation of the Federal Preservation Officer (FPO), the Advisory Council, State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs), and a wide range of interested parties. A significant new development is passage of the “Manhattan Project National Historical Park Study Act” (Public Law 108-340), which directs the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, to conduct a special resource study of the Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Hanford sites (and surrounding communities) “to assess the national significance, suitability, and feasibility of designating 1 or more sites within the study area as a unit of the National Park System.” The bill, however, was not funded. The FPO has met with the Park Service to develop a strategy of moving forward utilizing the significant amount of material that already exists regarding the Signature Facilities and relevant community assets.

On March 8, the Atomic Heritage Foundation organized a meeting to discuss implementation of the Act. The Capitol Hill meeting included congressional staffers, representatives of the Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution, the Advisory Council, community officials from the three communities; DOE field cultural resource managers, and the FPO. At a meeting the following day, the FPO proposed that the Office of History and Heritage Resources serve as the sole provider of information to the Park Service from both DOE sites and the communities and agreed to establish a website containing a listing of materials provided to the Park Service along with a chronology documenting events relevant to implementing the Act. The understanding is that the Park Service will review existing materials and develop an interim status report that will advance the goal of the Act even though it is currently not funded.