It fits how we use the word reservation in the west. This was also hanford's name I think when they constructed the site during WII as part of the manhattan project.
US may be, but reservation in the UK means nature, pretty birds, and not treading on wild flowers. Weird people wearing bobble hats and walking boots armed with binoculars sneak through ticking off things they have seen in little reference books. (Note we in the UK don't shoot them, nature or the weird people). Certainly not some scary nuclear thing at all. In dear old Blighty we call such places: "scary nuclear places".
Well in America the word Reservation was used for land set aside for Native tribes long before the idea of a "nature' reserve ever sprang up. That's why we typically use refuge for what you would call a reservation.
The only reason the word reservation has a positive connotation to you is because of what it colloquially refers to in your country. It's base definition is really anything that's been reserved for a specific purpose, doesn't have to be for wildlife preservation.
I doubt whoever named this facility back during WWII-era was attempting to soften up the image of it. Given that it was part of the Manhattan Project they probably didn't even think the general public would be aware of it.
Thank you for the best contribution to the Campaign for Plain English on HN.
I hope to soon see 6 lane stuck-in-traffic-ways, online adultery sites, and one joyous day I will be called a passenger on a train again instead of a customer :-)
I meant western United States, I'm sorry for being American centric. Really, the definition of reservation is quite simple: an area reserved for something. It's not a national park (though hanford reach is a monument I believe). Given the lack of people on the reservation, the area is quite natural.
