Nevada Test Site

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Image:November 1951 nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.jpg

The Nevada Test Site is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the City of Las Vegas, near Template:Coor dm. Formerly known as the Nevada Proving Ground. The site, established on January 11, 1951 for the testing of nuclear weapons, is composed of approximately 1,350 square miles (3,500 km²) of desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a one-kiloton of TNT (4 terajoule) bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats on January 27, 1951. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from NTS.

The Nevada Test Site has-

1,100 buildings
400 miles (600 km) paved roads
300 miles (500 km) unpaved roads
10 heliports
2 airstrips

Between 1951 and 1992, there were a total of 925 announced nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site. 825 of them were underground (seismic data has indicated there may have been many unannounced underground tests as well). The site is covered with subsidence craters from the testing [1]. The Nevada Test Site was the primary testing location of American atomic bombs; only 129 tests were conducted elsewhere (many at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands).

Image:Wfm area51 map en.png

During the 1950's, the mushroom cloud from these tests could be seen for almost 100 miles in either direction, including the city of Las Vegas, where the tests became tourist attractions. Americans headed for Las Vegas to witness the distant mushroom clouds that could be seen from hotels along the Strip.

On July 17, 1962 the test shot "Little Feller I" of Operation Sunbeam became the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site. Underground testing of weapons continued until September 23, 1992, and although the United States did not ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the articles of the treaty are nevertheless honored and further tests have not occurred. Tests not involving fission continue.

One notable test shot was the "Sedan" shot of Operation Storax, a 104 kt shot for the Operation Plowshare which sought to prove that nuclear weapons could be used for peaceful means in creating bays or canals — it created a crater 1,280 feet (390 m) wide and 320 feet (100 m) deep that can still be seen today. While most of the larger tests were conducted elsewhere, NTS was home to tests in the 500 to 1000 kiloton of TNT (2 to 4 petajoule) range, which caused noticeable seismic effects in Las Vegas.

Image:US fallout exposure.png

In a report by the National Cancer Institute, released in 1997, it was determined that ninety atmospheric tests at the Nevada Test Site deposited high levels of radioactive iodine-131 (5.5 exabecquerels) across a large portion of the contiguous United States, especially in the years 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1957—doses large enough, they determined, to produce 10,000 to 75,000 cases of thyroid cancer. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 allowed for people living downwind of NTS suffering from certain illnesses likely to have been caused by fallout exposure to receive compensation of $50,000. As February 23, 2006, around 9,600 of such claims had been approved, and around 2,800 denied, for a total amount of over $480 million in compensation dispensed.[2]

The town of Mercury, Nevada is located on the grounds of the NTS, and at one time housed contingents from LANL, LLNL, and Sandia. Area 51 and the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain are located nearby. The BREN Tower, a 465 metre high guyed tower for radiation experiments with an unshielded reactor, is located in the NTS.

As of 2004, the test site offers public tours on approximately a monthly basis, although the taking of souvenir material is prohibited.

On June 2, 2006, the site will be used to conduct the testing of a 700-ton conventional bomb in an operation known as Divine Strake. The bomb is a possible alternative to nuclear bunker busters, which Congress has been reluctant to fund, despite support from the President. [3]

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