The
Nevada National Security Site (N2S2), previously the
Nevada Test Site (NTS), is a
United States Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
reservation located in southeastern Nye County,
NevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, about 65 mi (104.6 km) northwest of the city of
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
. Formerly known as the
Nevada Proving Grounds, the site, established on 11 January 1951, for the testing of nuclear devices, is composed of approximately 1360 sq mi (3,522.4 km²) of desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a 1 ktTNT bomb dropped on
Frenchman FlatFrenchman Flat is a Tonopah Basin landform used as a nuclear weapons detonation site at the Nevada Test Site , some from Las Vegas, in the United States. Frenchman Flat is a dry lake, an alkaline desert depression which spans Area 5 and Area 11 within NTS...
on 27 January 1951. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from NTS.
The Nevada Test Site contains 28 areas, 1,100 buildings, 400 miles (643.7 km) of paved roads, 300 miles (482.8 km) of unpaved roads, ten heliports and two airstrips.
History
Established as a 680 square miles (1,761.2 km²) area by president Harry Truman on December 18, 1950 within the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range
1951–1992
Between 1951 and 1992, there were a total of 928 announced nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site. Of those, 828 were underground. (Sixty-two of the underground tests included multiple, simultaneous nuclear detonations, adding 93 detonations and bringing the total number of NTS nuclear detonations to 1,021, of which 921 were underground.) The site is covered with
subsidence craterA subsidence crater is a hole or depression left on the surface of an area which has had an underground explosion. Many such craters are present at the Nevada Test Site, which is no longer in use for nuclear testing....
s from the testing. The Nevada Test Site was the primary testing location of American nuclear devices; 126 tests were conducted elsewhere (many at the
Pacific Proving GroundsThe Pacific Proving Grounds was the name used to describe a number of sites in the Marshall Islands and a few other sites in the Pacific Ocean, used by the United States to conduct nuclear testing at various times between 1946 and 1962...
in the
Marshall IslandsThe Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
).
During the 1950s, the
mushroom cloudA mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...
s from these tests could be seen for almost 100 mi (160.9 km) 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 the downtown hotels.
On 17 July 1962, the test shot "Little Feller I" of
Operation SunbeamOperation Sunbeam was a series of four nuclear tests conducted at the United States of America's Nevada Test Site in 1962. Operation Sunbeam tested a number of small, "tactical" nuclear warheads...
became the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site. Underground testing of weapons continued until 23 September 1992, and although the United States did not ratify the
Comprehensive Test Ban TreatyThe Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996 but it has not entered into force.-Status:...
, the articles of the treaty are nevertheless honored and further tests have not occurred. Subcritical testing, tests not involving the full creation of a
critical massA critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The...
, continue.
One notable test shot was the "
SedanStorax Sedan was a shallow underground nuclear test conducted in Area 10 of Yucca Flat at the Nevada National Security Site on 6 July 1962 as part of Operation Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear weapons for mining, cratering, and other civilian purposes...
" shot of
Operation StoraxOperation Storax was a series of 48 American nuclear tests which took place in 1962 and 1963, including the Sedan blast, which was part of the Plowshare program.The individual blasts were: NameDateSize SEDAN July 6 104 kilotons...
on 6 July 1962, a 104 ktTNT shot for the
Operation PlowshareProject Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes...
which sought to prove that nuclear weapons could be used for peaceful means in creating bays or canals—it created a
craterSedan Crater is the result of the Sedan nuclear test and is located within the Nevada Test Site. The crater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 21, 1994. The crater is a man-made object that can be seen from earth orbit with the unaided eye.The crater is the result of...
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 ktTNT range, which caused noticeable seismic effects in Las Vegas.
1992–2007
The site was scheduled to be used to conduct the testing of a 1,100-ton conventional explosive in an operation known as
Divine StrakeDivine Strake was the official designation for a large-yield, non-nuclear, high-explosive test that was planned for the Nevada Test Site. Following its announcement, the test generated great controversy, centering on two issues: its potential value in developing a nuclear "bunker buster" warhead,...
in June 2006. The bomb is a possible alternative to
nuclear bunker busterBunker-busting nuclear weapons, also known as earth-penetrating weapons , are a type of nuclear weapon designed to penetrate into soil, rock, or concrete to deliver a nuclear warhead to a target. These weapons would be used to destroy hardened, underground military bunkers buried deep in the ground...
s. However, after objection from Nevada and Utah members of Congress, the operation was postponed until 2007. On 22 February 2007, the
Defense Threat Reduction AgencyThe Defense Threat Reduction Agency is an agency within the United States Department of Defense and is the official Combat Support Agency for countering weapons of mass destruction . DTRA's main functions are threat reduction, threat control, combat support, and technology development...
(DTRA) officially canceled the experiment.
Destruction and survivability testing
NTS also performed "piggyback" testing of effects of nuclear detonation during the above-ground tests. Vehicles, shelters, utility stations, and other structures were placed at various distances from the "Ground Zero" detonation point of each weapon.
Homes and commercial buildings were built to standards typical of American and European cities. Other structures included military fortifications (of types used by both
NATO and the
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
), civil defense, and "backyard" shelters. In a typical test several buildings might be built using the same plan with different types of paint, landscaping, cleanliness of yards, wall angles, or distances from Ground Zero. Mannequins were placed in and around vehicles and buildings.
High-speed cameras were placed in protected locations to capture effects of radiation and shock waves. Typical imagery from these cameras shows paint boiling off of the buildings, which then are pushed away from Ground Zero by the shock wave before being drawn toward the detonation by the suction caused by the climbing mushroom cloud. Footage from these cameras has become iconic, used in various media and available in the public domain and on DVD.
This testing allowed the development of guidelines, distributed to the public, to increase the likelihood of survival in case of air- or spaceborne nuclear attack.
Environmental impact
Each of the below ground explosions—some as deep as 5,000 feet—vaporized a large chamber, leaving a cavity filled with radioactive rubble. About a third of the tests were conducted directly in
aquiferAn aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
s, and others were hundreds or thousands of feet below the
water tableThe water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
.
When testing ended in 1992, the Energy Department estimated that more than 300 million curies of radiation remained, making the site one of the most radioactively contaminated places in the United States. In the worst affected zones, radioactivity in the tainted water reaches millions of picocuries per liter. (The federal standard for drinking water is 20 picocuries per liter.) Although radiation levels in the water have declined over time, the longer-lived isotopes will continue to pose risks for tens of thousands of years.
The Energy Department has 48 monitoring wells at the site and recently began drilling nine deep wells. Because the contaminated water poses no immediate health threat, the Department has ranked Nevada as a low priority for cleaning up major nuclear weapons sites, and it operates far fewer wells than at most other contaminated sites.
Protests and demonstrations
From 1986 through 1994, two years after the United States put a hold on full-scale nuclear weapons testing, 536 demonstrations were held at the Nevada Test Site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records.
American Peace Test (APT) and Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) held most of these. In March 1988, APT held an event where more than 8,000 people attended a ten-day action to "Reclaim the Test Site", where nearly 3,000 people were arrested with more than 1,200 in one day. This set a record for most civil disobedience arrests in a single protest. American Peace Test was collectively run by a group of individuals residing in Las Vegas, but leadership for the group was national. It originated with a small group of people who were active in the National Nuclear Weapons Freeze. APT was a breakaway organization beginning in 1986, with first public events held in 1987.
In the years that followed 1994, Shundahai Network in cooperation with
Nevada Desert ExperienceThe Nevada Desert Experience is a name for the movement to stop U.S. nuclear weapons testing that came into use in the middle 1980s. It is also the name of a particular anti-nuclear organization which continues to create public events to question the morality and intelligence of the U.S. nuclear...
and
Corbin HarneyCorbin Harney was an elder and spiritual leader of the Newe people. Harney reportedly inspired the creation in 1994 of the Shundahai Network, which works for environmental justice and the abolition of nuclear weapons...
continued the protests of the government's continued nuclear weapons work and also staged efforts to stop a repository for highly radioactive waste adjacent to the test site at
Yucca MountainThe Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository was to be a deep geological repository storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other high level radioactive waste, until the project was canceled in 2009. It was to be located on federal land adjacent to the Nevada Test Site in Nye County,...
, 100 mi (160.9 km) northwest of Las Vegas.
NTS today
The test site offers monthly public tours, often fully booked months in advance. Visitors are not allowed to bring in cameras, binoculars, cell phones, or pick up rocks for souvenirs.
While there are no longer any explosive tests of nuclear weapons at the site, there is still subcritical testing, used to determine the viability of the United States' aging nuclear arsenal. Additionally, the site is the location of the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Complex, which sorts and stores low-level radioactive waste that is not transuranic and has a half life not longer than 20 years. Bechtel Nevada Corporation (a joint venture of
Lockheed MartinLockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
,
Bechtel Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...
and
Johnson ControlsJohnson Controls, Inc. is a company, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1885 by professor Warren S. Johnson, inventor of the first electric room thermostat....
) ran this complex until 2006. Several other companies won the latest bid for the contract. They then combined to form a new company called National Security Technologies, LLC (a joint venture of
Northrop GrummanNorthrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...
,
AECOMAECOM Technology Corporation is a professional technical and management support services firm. The company is ranked as the number one design firm for 2010 and 2011 by Engineering News-Record and number one by Architectural Record. It provides services in the areas of transportation, planning,...
,
CH2M HillCH2M Hill is an American-based global provider of engineering, construction, and operations services for corporations, nonprofits, and federal, state, and local governments. The firm is headquartered in Meridian, an unincorporated area of Douglas County, Colorado in the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan...
and
Nuclear Fuel ServicesNuclear Fuel Services Inc. is an American company that has been a major supplier of fuel for the United States Navy's fleet of nuclear-powered vessels since the 1960s. In recent years it has also processed weapons-grade uranium into nuclear reactor fuel...
). AECOM, known earlier as Holmes and Narver, held the Nevada Test Site contract for many years before Bechtel Nevada Corp. had it.
The
Radiological/Nuclear WMD Incident Exercise Site (T-1), which replicates multiple terrorist radiological incidents with train, plane, automobile, truck, and helicopter props is located in Area 1, at the former site of tests EASY, SIMON, APPLE-2, and GALILEO.
Landmarks and geography
The town of
Mercury, NevadaMercury, Nevada is a town in Nye County, Nevada, United States, 5 miles north of U.S. Route 95 at a point 65 miles further northwest of Las Vegas. It is situated within the Nevada Test Site and was constructed by the Atomic Energy Commission to house and service the staff of the test site. The...
, is located on the grounds of the NTS, and at one time housed contingents from
Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
,
Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryThe Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
, and
Sandia National LaboratoriesThe Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
.
Area 51Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
is north of NTS and the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility at
Yucca MountainThe Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository was to be a deep geological repository storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other high level radioactive waste, until the project was canceled in 2009. It was to be located on federal land adjacent to the Nevada Test Site in Nye County,...
is at the southwest corner. The
BREN TowerBREN Tower is a guyed steel framework mast, high, on the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, USA. "BREN" stands for "Bare Reactor Experiment, Nevada."...
, a 1527 ft (465.4 m)-high tower is located in the NTS at Jackass Flats.
Cancer and test site
A 1979 study reported in the
New England Journal of MedicineThe New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
concluded that:
A significant excess of leukemiaLeukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
deaths occurred in children up to 14 years of age living in Utah between 1959 and 1967. This excess was concentrated in the cohort of children born between 1951 and 1958, and was most pronounced in those residing in counties receiving high fallout.
In 1982, a lawsuit brought by nearly 1,200 people accused the government of negligence in atomic and/or nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s, which they said had caused leukemia and other
cancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
s. Dr.
Karl Z. MorganKarl Ziegler Morgan , was an American physicist who was one of the founders of the field of radiation health physics...
testified that radiation protection measures in the tests were substandard.
In a report by the
National Cancer InstituteThe National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
, released in 1997, it was determined that ninety atmospheric tests at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) deposited high levels of radioactive
iodineIodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....
-
131Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
(5.5
exabecquerelsThe becquerel is the SI-derived unit of radioactivity. One Bq is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. The Bq unit is therefore equivalent to an inverse second, s−1...
) 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 cancerThyroid neoplasm is a neoplasm or tumor of the thyroid. It can be a benign tumor such as thyroid adenoma, or it can be a malignant neoplasm , such as papillary, follicular, medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer. Most patients are 25 to 65 years of age when first diagnosed; women are more affected...
. The
Radiation Exposure Compensation ActThe United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act is a federal statute providing for the monetary compensation of people, including atomic veterans, who contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by...
of 1990 allowed for people living downwind of NTS for at least two years in particular Nevada, Arizona or Utah counties, between 21 January 1951 and 31 October 1958, or 30 June and 31 July 1962, and suffering from certain cancers or other serious illnesses deemed to have been caused by fallout exposure to receive compensation of $50,000. By January 2006, over 10,500 claims had been approved, and around 3,000 denied, for a total amount of over $525 million in compensation dispensed to "
downwindersDownwinders refers to individuals and communities who are exposed to radioactive contamination or nuclear fallout from atmospheric or underground nuclear weapons testing, and nuclear accidents...
". Additionally, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 provides compensation and medical benefits for nuclear weapons workers who may have developed certain work-related illnesses.
Uranium miners, mill workers, and ore transporters are also eligible for $100,000 compassionate payment under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program, while $75,000 is the fixed payment amount for workers who were participants in the above-ground nuclear weapons tests.
Nuclear test series carried out at the Nevada Test Site
- Operation Ranger
Operation Ranger was the fourth American nuclear test series. It was conducted in 1951 and was the first series to be carried out at the Nevada Test Site. All the bombs were exploded in the open air, having been dropped by B-50 bombers....
— 1951
- Operation Buster-Jangle
Operation Buster-Jangle was a series of seven nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in late 1951 at the Nevada Test Site. Buster-Jangle was the first joint test program between the DOD and Los Alamos National Laboratories. 6,500 troops were involved in the Desert Rock I, II, and III...
— 1951
- Operation Tumbler-Snapper
Operation Tumbler-Snapper was a series of atomic tests conducted by the United States in early 1952 at the Nevada Test Site. The Tumbler-Snapper Series of tests followed Operation Buster-Jangle, and preceded Operation Ivy....
— 1952
- Operation Upshot-Knothole
Operation Upshot-Knothole was a series of eleven nuclear test shots conducted in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site.Over twenty-one thousand soldiers took part in the ground exercise Desert Rock V in conjunction with the Grable shot...
— 1953
- Operation Teapot
Operation Teapot was a series of fourteen nuclear test explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in the first half of 1955.During shot "Wasp", ground forces took part in Exercise Desert Rock VI which included an armored task force "Razor" moving to within 900 meters of ground zero, under the...
— 1955
- Project 56
Project 56 was a series of one-point safety tests conducted in Area 11 of the Nevada Test Site between 1955 and 1956.- Introduction :The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether a weapon or warhead damaged in an accident would detonate with a nuclear yield, even if some or all of the...
— 1955
- Operation Plumbbob
Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following Operation Redwing, and preceding Operation Hardtack I...
— 1957
- Project 57
Project 57 was a safety experiment conducted at the Nellis Air Force Range in 1957.- External links :***...
, 58Project 58 was a series of safety experiments conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1957.- External links :***...
, 58AProject 58A was a series of safety experiments conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1958.- External links :***...
— 1957–1958
- Operation Hardtack II
Operation Hardtack II was a series of 37 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1958 at the Nevada Test Site.With test moratoriums on the horizon, American weapons labs rushed out many new designs. After the conclusion of Hardtack II, the United States announced a unilateral testing...
— 1958
- Operation Nougat
Operation Nougat was a series of 45 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1961 and 1962, immediately after the Soviet Union abrogated a testing moratorium, with the US' "Mink" test shot taking place the day before the Soviets test-detonated the Tsar Bomba. Most tests were...
— 1961–1962
- Operation Plowshare
Project Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes...
— 1961–1973 (sporadic, at least one test a year)
- Operation Sunbeam
Operation Sunbeam was a series of four nuclear tests conducted at the United States of America's Nevada Test Site in 1962. Operation Sunbeam tested a number of small, "tactical" nuclear warheads...
— 1962
- Operation Dominic II
Operation Dominic was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 by the United States. Those conducted in the Pacific are sometimes called Dominic I. The blasts in Nevada are known as Dominic II. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet...
— 1962–1963
- Operation Storax
Operation Storax was a series of 48 American nuclear tests which took place in 1962 and 1963, including the Sedan blast, which was part of the Plowshare program.The individual blasts were: NameDateSize SEDAN July 6 104 kilotons...
— 1963
- Operation Niblick
Operation Niblick was a series of 41 underground nuclear explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1963 and 1964. It followed the Dominic I & II and Nougat series, and preceded Whetstone.NameDateSize PEKAN August 12 < 20 kilotons...
— 1963–1964
- Operation Whetstone
Operation Whetstone was a series of 48 American nuclear tests conducted in 1964 and 1965. These followed the Niblick series and were in turn followed by Flintlock. All but one of these blasts were conducted beneath the Nevada Test Site...
— 1964–1965
- Operation Flintlock
Operation Flintlock was a series of 48 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site and Amchitka in 1965 and 1966. These tests followed the Whetstone series and preceded Latchkey. The individual blasts were:...
— 1965–1966
- Operation Latchkey
Operation Latchkey was a series of 38 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1966 and 1967 at the Nevada Test Site .These tests followed the Flintlock series and were in turn followed by Crosstie...
— 1966–1967
- Operation Crosstie
Operation Crosstie was a series of 48 nuclear tests mostly conducted in Nevada during 1967 and 1968. These tests followed the Latchkey series and preceded Bowline....
— 1967–1968
- Operation Bowline
Operation Bowline was a series of 48 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1968 and 1969 at the Nevada Test Site. These blasts followed Crosstie and preceded Mandrel.-Individual Tests:...
— 1968–1969
- Operation Mandrel
Operation Mandrel was a series of 53 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1969 and 1970. This test series included a 1.2 megaton "calibration shot" code-named Milrow, which was detonated underground at Amchitka Island, Alaska, and the 40 kiloton gas stimulation experiment code-named Rulison,...
— 1969–1970
- Operation Emery
Operation Emery was a series of twelve nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site. These explosions occurred in 1970 and 1971, after the Mandrel series and before Grommet....
— 1970
- Operation Grommet
Operation Grommet was a series of 34 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1971 and 1972 including one in Alaska in 1971. These tests followed the Emery series and preceded Toggle....
— 1971–1972
- Operation Toggle
Operation Toggle was a series of 28 nuclear tests conducted in 1972 and 1973. All but Rio Blanco took place at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the Grommet series and preceded Arbor. The individual blasts were:...
— 1972–1973
- Operation Arbor
Operation Arbor was a series of 19 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1973 and 1974. These tests followed the Toggle series and preceded Operation Bedrock.-Individual Tests:...
— 1973–1974
- Operation Bedrock
Operation Bedrock was a series of 27 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1974 and 1975. These tests followed the Arbor series and preceded Anvil.-List of individual tests:...
— 1974–1975
- Operation Anvil
Operation Anvil was a series of 21 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1975 and 1976. These tests followed the Bedrock series and preceded Fulcrum.-Individual Tests:...
— 1975–1976
- Operation Fulcrum
Operation Fulcrum was a series of 21 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1976 and 1977. These tests followed the Anvil series and preceded Cresset...
— 1976–1977
- Operation Cresset
Operation Cresset was a series of 23 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1977 and 1978. These tests followed the Fulcrum series and preceded Quicksilver...
— 1977–1978
- Operation Quicksilver
Operation Quicksilver was a nuclear test series of eighteen blasts conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1978 and 1979. This preceded Tinderbox, and followed Cresset. The individual tests were:...
— 1978–1979
- Operation Tinderbox
Operation Tinderbox was a series of fifteen nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1979 and 1980. These tests followed the Quicksilver series and preceded Guardian. The individual blasts were:...
— 1979–1980
- Operation Guardian
A series of sixteen nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site. This test series followed Tinderbox and preceded Praetorian. The individual blasts were:...
— 1980–1981
- Operation Praetorian
Operation Praetorian was a series of 22 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1981 and 1982. These tests followed the Guardian series and preceded Phalanx...
— 1981–1982
- Operation Phalanx
Operation Phalanx was a series of 19 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1982 and 1983. These tests followed the Praetorian series and preceded Fusileer...
— 1982–1983
- Operation Fusileer
Operation Fusileer was a series of 17 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1983 and 1984. These tests followed the Phalanx series and preceded Grenadier...
— 1983–1984
- Operation Grenadier
Operation Grenadier was a series of 17 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1984 and 1985. These tests followed the Fusileer series and preceded Charioteer...
— 1984–1985
- Operation Charioteer
Operation Charioteer was a series of 18 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1985 and 1986. These tests followed the Grenadier series and preceded Operation Musketeer .-List of individual tests:...
— 1985–1986
- Operation Musketeer
Operation Musketeer was a series of 15 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1986 and 1987. These tests followed the Charioteer series and preceded Touchstone...
— 1986–1987
- Operation Touchstone
Operation Touchstone was a series of 14 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1987 and 1988. These tests followed the Musketeer series and preceded Cornerstone...
— 1987–1988
- Operation Cornerstone
Operation Cornerstone was a series of 12 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1988 and 1989. These tests followed the Touchstone series and preceded Aqueduct...
— 1988–1989
- Operation Aqueduct
Operation Aqueduct was a series of 11 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1989 and 1990. These tests followed the Cornerstone series and preceded Sculpin.-Individual Tests:...
— 1989–1990
- Operation Sculpin
Operation Sculpin was a series of 8 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1990 and 1991. These tests followed the Aqueduct series and preceded Julin...
— 1990–1991
- Operation Julin
Operation Julin was a series of 8 underground nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1991 and 1992. This test series followed the Sculpin series and was the last nuclear test series conducted by the U.S. The individual blasts were:-Last test:...
— 1991–1992
Areas
The Test Site is broken down into areas. Some of the areas and their uses include the following:
Area 1
Area 1 held 8 nuclear tests for a total of 9 detonations.
Four early atmospheric tests were conducted above Area 1 in the early 1950s, as well as three underground tests in 1971 and 1990. In 1955, a
Civil DefenseCivil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
experiment (called Operation Cue in the press) studied nuclear blast effects on various building types; a few structures still stand.
Heavy drilling equipment and concrete construction facilities are sited in Area 1. Non-destructive X-ray, gamma ray, and subcritical detonation tests continue to be conducted in Area 1.
The radioactivity present on the ground in Area 1 provides a radiologically-contaminated environment for the training of
first respondersA certified first responder is a person who has completed a course and received certification in providing pre-hospital care for medical emergencies. They have more skill than someone who is trained in basic first aid but they are not a substitute for advanced medical care rendered by emergency...
.
Area 3
Area 3 held 266 nuclear tests for a total of 288 detonations, more than in any other area of the NTS.
As part of
Operation TinderboxOperation Tinderbox was a series of fifteen nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1979 and 1980. These tests followed the Quicksilver series and preceded Guardian. The individual blasts were:...
, on 24 June 1980, a small satellite prototype (DSCS III) was subjected to radioactivity from the "Huron King" shot in a vertical line-of-sight (VLOS) test undertaken in Area 3. This was a program to improve the database on nuclear hardening design techniques for defense satellites.
The final nuclear test detonation at Nevada Test Site was
Operation JulinOperation Julin was a series of 8 underground nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1991 and 1992. This test series followed the Sculpin series and was the last nuclear test series conducted by the U.S. The individual blasts were:-Last test:...
's "Divider" on 23 September 1992, just prior to the moratorium temporarily ending all nuclear testing. Divider was a safety experiment test shot that was detonated at the bottom of a shaft sunk into Area 3.
In 1995 and 1997, plutonium-contaminated soil from "Double Tracks" and "Clean Slate 1" of
Operation Roller CoasterOperation Roller Coaster was a series of 4 nuclear tests conducted at the Nellis Air Force Range in 1963. The tests examined the dispersal of plutonium in storage and transportation accidents and were not expected to produce any nuclear explosive yield...
(1963) was picked up from the
Tonopah Test RangeTonopah Test Range , also known as Area 52, is a restricted military installation located about southeast of Tonopah, Nevada. It is part of the northern fringe of the Nellis Range, measuring . Tonopah Test Range is located about northwest of Groom Dry Lake, home of the Area 51 facility...
and brought to the Area 3 Radioactive Waste Management Site as a first step in eventually returning Tonopah Test Range to an environmentally neutral state. Corrective action regarding the contaminated material from the "Clean Slate 2" and "Clean Slate 3" tests has yet to be agreed upon.
Area 4
Area 4 held 40 nuclear tests for a total of 44 detonations.
It is home to the Big Explosives Experimental Facility (BEEF).
Area 5
Area 5 held 19 nuclear tests.
Five atmospheric tests were detonated, starting on 27 January 1951 at Area 5 as part of
Operation RangerOperation Ranger was the fourth American nuclear test series. It was conducted in 1951 and was the first series to be carried out at the Nevada Test Site. All the bombs were exploded in the open air, having been dropped by B-50 bombers....
. These were the first nuclear tests at NTS. Further tower detonations were studied at Area 5, and the
"Grable"Upshot-Knothole Grable was a nuclear weapons test conducted by the United States as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. Detonation of the associated nuclear weapon occurred shortly after its deployment at 8:30am PDT on May 25, 1953, in Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site...
shot which was fired from an artillery piece located in Area 11 exploded in Area 5. The Priscilla test was conducted at Area 5 on 24 June 1957.
Five underground tests were setup at Area 5; four of those suffered accidental release of radioactive materials. On 16 March 1968, physicist
Glenn T. SeaborgGlenn Theodore Seaborg was an American scientist who won the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements", contributed to the discovery and isolation of ten elements, and developed the actinide concept, which led to the current arrangement of the...
toured the upcoming "Milk Shake" shot of
Operation CrosstieOperation Crosstie was a series of 48 nuclear tests mostly conducted in Nevada during 1967 and 1968. These tests followed the Latchkey series and preceded Bowline....
. Milk Shake's radioactive release was not detected outside of NTS boundaries.
Area 6
Area 6 held 4 nuclear tests for a total of 6 detonations. The only two towns to be established within the boundaries of NTS prior to 1947, BJ Wye and Mule Lick, are located in Yucca Flats, in Area 6.
The Device Assembly Facility (DAF) was originally built to consolidate nuclear explosives assembly operations. It now serves as the Criticality Experiments Facility (CEF).
The Control Point is the communication hub of the NTS. It was used by controllers to trigger and monitor nuclear test explosions.
Area 7
Area 7 held 92 nuclear tests.
During Operation Buster, four successful tests were conducted via airdrop, with bomber aircraft releasing nuclear weapons over Area 7.
It is also the site of Matthew Rileys book called Area 7.
Shot "Icecap" planned for 1993 was abandoned in Area 7 following 1992's testing moratorium. The tower, shaft and wiring remain in place, along with a crane intended to lower the nuclear test package into the shaft.
Area 8
Area 8 held 13 nuclear tests for a total of 15 detonations.
Area 8 hosted the "Baneberry" shot of
Operation EmeryOperation Emery was a series of twelve nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site. These explosions occurred in 1970 and 1971, after the Mandrel series and before Grommet....
on 18 December 1970. The Baneberry 10 ktTNT test detonated 900 feet (274.3 m) below the surface but its energy cracked the soil in unexpected ways, causing a fissure near ground zero and the failure of the shaft stemming and cap. A plume of fire and dust was released, raining fallout on workers in different locations within NTS. The radioactive plume released 6.7 million Curies of radioactive material, including 80 kCi of
131I.
Area 9
Area 9 held 115 nuclear tests for a total of 133 detonations.
In Area 9, the 74 ktTNT "Hood" test on 5 July 1957, part of
Operation PlumbbobOperation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following Operation Redwing, and preceding Operation Hardtack I...
, was the largest atmospheric test ever conducted within the continental United States; nearly five times larger in yield than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. A balloon carried Hood up to 460 meters above the ground where it was detonated. Over 2,000 troops took part in the test in order to train them in conducting operations on the nuclear battlefield. 11 million
CurieThe curie is a unit of radioactivity, defined asThis is roughly the activity of 1 gram of the radium isotope 226Ra, a substance studied by the pioneers of radiology, Marie and Pierre Curie, for whom the unit was named. In addition to the curie, activity can be measured using an SI derived unit,...
s of
Iodine-131Iodine-131 , also called radioiodine , is an important radioisotope of iodine. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. Its uses are mostly medical and pharmaceutical...
(
131I) were released into the air.
Area 10
Area 10 held 57 nuclear tests for a total of 71 detonations.
The first underground test at NTS was the "Uncle" shot of Operation Jangle. Uncle detonated on 29 November 1951 within a shaft sunk into Area 10.
The "John" shot of Plumbbob, on 19 July 1957, was the first test firing of the nuclear-tipped
AIR-2 GenieThe Douglas AIR-2 Genie was an unguided air-to-air rocket with a 1.5kt W25 nuclear warhead. It was deployed by the United States Air Force and Canada during the Cold War...
air-to-air rocket designed to destroy incoming enemy bombers with a nuclear explosion. The 2 ktTNT warhead exploded approximately three miles above five volunteers and a photographer who stood unprotected at "ground zero" in Area 10 to show the apparent safety of battlefield nuclear weapons to personnel on the ground. The test also demonstrated the ability of a fighter aircraft to deliver a nuclear-tipped rocket and avoid being destroyed in the process. A Northrop
F-89JThe Northrop F-89 Scorpion was an early American jet-powered fighter designed from the outset as an all-weather interceptor. Though its straight wings limited its performance, it was among the first USAF jet fighters with guided missiles, and notably the first combat aircraft armed with air-to-air...
fired the rocket.
The
"Sedan" testStorax Sedan was a shallow underground nuclear test conducted in Area 10 of Yucca Flat at the Nevada National Security Site on 6 July 1962 as part of Operation Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear weapons for mining, cratering, and other civilian purposes...
of
Operation StoraxOperation Storax was a series of 48 American nuclear tests which took place in 1962 and 1963, including the Sedan blast, which was part of the Plowshare program.The individual blasts were: NameDateSize SEDAN July 6 104 kilotons...
on 6 July 1962, a 104 ktTNT shot for the
Operation PlowshareProject Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes...
which sought to discover whether nuclear weapons could be used for peaceful means in creating lakes, bays or canals. The explosion displaced twelve million tons of earth, creating the
Sedan craterSedan Crater is the result of the Sedan nuclear test and is located within the Nevada Test Site. The crater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 21, 1994. The crater is a man-made object that can be seen from earth orbit with the unaided eye.The crater is the result of...
which is 1,280 feet (390 m) wide and 320 feet (100 m) deep.
Area 11
Area 11 held 9 nuclear tests.
Four of the tests were weapons safety experiments conducted as
Project 56Project 56 was a series of one-point safety tests conducted in Area 11 of the Nevada Test Site between 1955 and 1956.- Introduction :The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether a weapon or warhead damaged in an accident would detonate with a nuclear yield, even if some or all of the...
; they spread so much harmful radioactive material around the test sites that Area 11 has been called "Plutonium Valley". As is the case with Area 1, background radiation levels make Area 11 suitable for realistic training in methods of radiation detection.
Area 13
There is no Area 13 within NTS, though such a name is attached to a section of Nellis Air Force Range which abuts the northeastern corner of Area 15.
Project 57Project 57 was a safety experiment conducted at the Nellis Air Force Range in 1957.- External links :***...
's weapons safety test was conducted here on 24 April 1957, spreading particles emitting alpha radiation over a large area. In 1981, the hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of contaminated soil of Area 13 were carried into NTS and stored at a waste facility. A 1998 reassessment of Area 13 found that buried metal debris exists in a landfill onsite. Data regarding Area 13's fate are still under review.
Area 14
Area 14 occupies approximately 26 square miles in the central portion of the NNSS. Various outdoor experiments are conducted in this area. No atmospheric or underground nuclear tests were conducted in Area 14.
Area 15
Three underground detonations took place in area 15 in the 1960s..
Pile Driver was a notable
Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
test. A massive underground installation was built to study the survivability of hardened underground bunkers undergoing a nuclear attack. Information from the test was used in designing hardened missile silos and the
North American Aerospace Defense CommandNorth American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado...
facility in Colorado Springs.
The abandoned Crystal and Climax mines are found in Area 15. Storage tanks hold contaminated materials.
From 1964 to 1981, the Environmental Protection Agency operated a 36 acres (145,687 m²) experimental farm in Area 15. Extensive plant and soil studies evaluated the uptake of pollutants in farm-grown vegetables and from the forage eaten by a diary herd of some 30 Holstein cows. Scientists also studied horses, pigs, goats, and chickens.
Area 22
No nuclear tests took place in Area 22. Area 22 once held Camp Desert Rock, a staging base for troops undergoing atmospheric nuclear blast training; as many as 9,000 troops were camped there in 1955.
Desert Rock AirportDesert Rock Airport is a private-use airport located three miles southwest of the central business district of Mercury, in Nye County, Nevada, United States...
was enlarged to 7500 ft (2,286 m). length in 1969 by the
Atomic Energy CommissionThe United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
. It is a transport hub for personnel and supplies going to NTS and also serves as an emergency landing strip.
Area 23
No nuclear tests took place in Area 23. The town of
Mercury, NevadaMercury, Nevada is a town in Nye County, Nevada, United States, 5 miles north of U.S. Route 95 at a point 65 miles further northwest of Las Vegas. It is situated within the Nevada Test Site and was constructed by the Atomic Energy Commission to house and service the staff of the test site. The...
lies within Area 23. The area is the main pathway to and from NTS test locations by way of
U.S. Route 95U.S. Route 95 is a north–south U.S. highway in the western United States. Unlike many other US highways, it has not seen deletion or replacement on most of its length by an encroaching Interstate highway corridor, due to its mostly rural course...
. An open sanitary landfill is located to the west of Mercury, and a closed hazardous waste site abuts the landfill. Mercury is also the main management area for the site which includes a bar and several restaurants, a bowling alley, movie theater, motel, large cafeteria, printing plant, hospital and medical center, warehousing, fleet management, liquidation and recycling center, engineering offices, dormitories and other administrative areas for both the O&M contractors, LLNL, LANL and SNL personnel.
Area 26
No nuclear tests took place in Area 26.. Area 26 is the most arid section of NTS. An old abandoned mine, the Horn Silver Mine, was used for waste disposal between 1959 and the 1970s; some of the waste is radioactive. Water flow past the shaft could pose a human health risk, so corrective action has been planned.
An eight square miles complex was constructed in Area 26 in support of
Project PlutoProject Pluto was a United States government program to develop nuclear powered ramjet engines for use in cruise missiles. Two experimental engines were tested at the United States Department of Energy Nevada Test Site in 1961 and 1964.-History:...
. It consisted of six miles of roads, the critical assembly building, the control building, the assembly and shop buildings, and utilities. Those buildings have been used recently as mock reactor facilities in the training of first responders.
Area 27
No nuclear tests took place in Area 27. The section contains underground storage bunkers as well as assembly bays and lab space. The Super Kukla Reactor Facility was built in Area 27; it's now entombed in place.
The Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research (JASPER) facility was installed in Area 27, beginning in April 1999 when a former weapons assembly complex was decommissioned and repurposed to house the JASPER two-stage high-energy shock gun. By September 1999, facility modifications were finished, and in April 2003, all qualification testing using non-nuclear materials was complete. By May 2007, a series of tests comparing new plutonium weapons pits with old ones had confirmed that the plutonium cores in US weapons stockpiles were less subject to deleterious aging effects than previously anticipated.
Area 29
No nuclear tests took place in Area 29. The rugged terrain of Area 29 serves as a buffer between other areas of NTS. A helipad is present at Shoshone Peak.
Area 30
Area 30 occupies approximately 59 square miles at the center of the western edge of the NNSS. Area 30 has rugged terrain and includes the northern reaches of Fortymile Canyon. It is used primarily for military training and exercises.
Area 30 was the site of a single nuclear test, the
Crosstie Buggy row charge experiment, part of
Operation PlowshareProject Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes...
, which involved 5 simultaneous detonations.
External links