Nevada Test Site
November 1951 nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. Test is shot "Dog" from Operation Buster, with a yield of 21 kilotons. It was the first U.S. nuclear field exercise conducted on land; troops shown are a mere 6 miles from the blast.
Type	Nuclear testing range
Location	37°07′N 116°03′W near Las Vegas in the United States
Area	~1,350 mi² (~3,500 km²)
Operator	United States Department of Energy
Status	Active
In use	1951–present
Testing
Nuclear tests	925+
Map showing location of the site

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 37°07′N 116°03′W. 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. Public domain photo from http://www. ... Buster-Jangle Dog test Operation Buster-Jangle was a series of seven (six atmospheric, one underground) nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in late 1951 at the Nevada Test Site. ... A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... Nickname: The Entertainment Capital of the World; Sin City Location of Las Vegas in Nevada Coordinates: County Clark Mayor Oscar B. Goodman(D) Area    - City 131. ... The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. ... For the generation of electrical power by fission, see Nuclear power plant An induced nuclear fission event. ... Image File history File links Locator_Dot. ... Image File history File links US_Locator_Blank. ... The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. ... Nye County is a county located in the state of Nevada. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Nickname: The Entertainment Capital of the World; Sin City Location of Las Vegas in Nevada Coordinates: County Clark Mayor Oscar B. Goodman(D) Area    - City 131. ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... The joule (symbol: J) is the SI (metric) unit of energy, which is defined as the potential to do work. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...

The Nevada Test Site has-

• 1,100 buildings
• 400 miles (643 km) paved roads
• 300 miles (382 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). Post-shot subsidence crater and Huron King test chamber, which was less than 20 kilotons (1980) A subsidence crater is the crater left on the surface of an area which has had an underground (usually nuclear) explosion. ... The United States began using the Marshall Islands as a nuclear testing site beginning in 1946. ...

Map showing the NTS and other federal territories in southern Nevada

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 the downtown hotels. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1972x1148, 1869 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Area 51 Yucca Mountain Nevada Test Site Nellis Air Force Base Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates Tonopah Test Range Nellis Air Force Range Mercury, Nevada Desert National Wildlife Range Wikipedia... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1972x1148, 1869 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Area 51 Yucca Mountain Nevada Test Site Nellis Air Force Base Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates Tonopah Test Range Nellis Air Force Range Mercury, Nevada Desert National Wildlife Range Wikipedia... The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945 A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, flame, or debris resulting from a very large explosion. ... This article is about the city of Las Vegas in Nevada. ...

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. July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Operation Sunbeam was a series of nuclear tests conducted at the United States of Americas Nevada Test Site. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Opened for signature September 10, 1996[1] in New York Entered into force Not yet in force Conditions for entry into force The treaty will enter into force 180 days after it is ratified by all of the following 44 (Annex 2) countries: Algeria, Argentina, Australia... For the generation of electrical power by fission, see Nuclear power plant An induced nuclear fission event. ...

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. Storax Sedan explosion The Sedan crater. ... Operation Storax was the series of American nuclear tests of the Operation Dominic I and II series which took place in Fiscal 1963, but excluding the Sedan blast, which was part of the Plowshare program. ... The 1962 Sedan plowshares shot displaced 12 million tons of earth and created a crater 320 feet deep and 1,280 feet wide. ... The joule (symbol: J) is the SI (metric) unit of energy, which is defined as the potential to do work. ...

Per capita thyroid doses in the continental United States of iodine-131 resulting from all exposure routes from all atmospheric nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site.

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] Image File history File links US_fallout_exposure. ... Image File history File links US_fallout_exposure. ... Iodine-131, also called radioiodine, is a radioisotope of iodine. ... The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the United States federal governments principal agency for cancer research and training, and the first institute of the present-day National Institutes of Health. ... Radioactive decay is the set of various processes by which unstable atomic nuclei (nuclides) emit subatomic particles. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iodine, I, 53 Chemical series halogens Group, Period, Block 17, 5, p Appearance violet-dark gray, lustrous Atomic mass 126. ... Isotopes are any of the several different forms of an element each having different atomic mass. ... The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of radioactivity, defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. ... Thyroid cancer is cancer of the thyroid gland. ... The United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a federal statute providing for the monetary compensation of people who contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by the United States during the Cold War, or...

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. Mercury is a city in Nevada, USA, northwest of Las Vegas. ... Los Alamos National Laboratory, aerial view from 1995. ... Aerial view of the lab and surrounding area. ... Sandia National Laboratories is a major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratory with two locations, one in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the other in Livermore, California. ... Landsat pseudocolor satellite photo of Groom Lake, taken around 2000 Area 51 (currently known as Air Force Flight Test Center, Detachment 3 and also known as Dreamland, Watertown Strip, Paradise Ranch, The Box, Groom Lake) is a remote tract of land in southern Nevada, located at , at the southern edge... Yucca Mountain Yucca Mountain is a ridge-line in Nye County, Nevada, composed of volcanic material (mostly tuff) ejected from a now-extinct caldera-forming supervolcano. ... BREN Tower BREN Tower is a guyed steel framework mast, 465 meters (1,527 feet) high, on the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, USA. BREN stands for Bare Reactor Experiment, Nevada. ...

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 was scheduled to 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 Bush. [3] However, after objection from Nevada and Utah members of Congress, the operation was put on hold indefinitely. Divine Strake is the name given to a large high-explosive test by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, originally planned to take place on June 2, 2006 at the site of an existing underground tunnel in the United States Department of Energy Nevada Test Site. ... Subsidence craters left over after underground nuclear (test) explosions Bunker-busting nuclear weapons, also known as earth-penetrating weapons (EPW), are a type of nuclear weapon designed to penetrate into soil, rock, or concrete to deliver a nuclear warhead to a target. ...

Nuclear test series carried out at Nevada Test Site

The Yucca Flat area of the Nevada Test Site is scarred with subsidence craters from underground nuclear testing.

Preparing for an underground test. The emplacment tower lowers the nuclear device into the drilled shaft; the cables run to instruments that record information from the experiment.

• Operation Ranger — 1951
• Operation Buster-Jangle — 1951
• Operation Tumbler-Snapper — 1952
• Operation Upshot-Knothole — 1953
• Operation Teapot — 1955
• Project 56 — 1955
• Operation Plumbbob — 1957
• Project 57, 58, 58A — 1957-58
• Operation Hardtack II — 1958
• Operation Nougat — 1961-62
• Operation Sunbeam — 1962
• Operation Dominic II — 1962-63
• Operation Storax — 1963
• Operation Niblick — 1963-64
• Operation Whetstone — 1964-65
• Operation Flintlock — 1965-66
• Operation Latchkey — 1966-67
• Operation Crosstie — 1967-68
• Operation Bowline — 1968-69
• Operation Mandrel — 1969-70
• Operation Emery — 1970
• Operation Grommet — 1971-72
• Operation Toggle — 1972-73
• Operation Arbor — 1973-74
• Operation Bedrock — 1974-75
• Operation Anvil — 1975-76
• Operation Fulcrum — 1976-77
• Operation Crescent — 1977-78
• Operation Quicksilver — 1978-79
• Operation Tinderbox — 1979-80
• Operation Guardian — 1980-81
• Operation Praetorian — 1981-82
• Operation Phalanx — 1982-83
• Operation Fusileer — 1983-84
• Operation Grenadier — 1984-85
• Operation Charioteer — 1985-86
• Operation Musketeer — 1986-87
• Operation Touchstone — 1987-88
• Operation Cornerstone — 1988-89
• Operation Aqueduct — 1989-90
• Operation Sculpin — 1990-91
• Operation Julin — 1991-92

The crater-scarred landscape of the Nevada Test Site. ... The crater-scarred landscape of the Nevada Test Site. ... Preparing for an underground test at Nevada Test Site. ... Preparing for an underground test at Nevada Test Site. ... Operation Ranger was the fourth American nuclear test series. ... Buster-Jangle Dog test Operation Buster-Jangle was a series of seven (six atmospheric, one underground) nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in late 1951 at the Nevada Test Site. ... Nuclear detonation from the Tumbler Snapper test series Operation Tumbler-Snapper was a series of atomic tests conducted by the United States in the spring of 1952 at the Nevada Test Site. ... Operation Upshot-Knothole was a series of eleven nuclear test shots conducted in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. ... Operation Teapot was a series of thirteen nuclear test explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in the first half of 1955. ... The Smoky shot of Operation Plumbbob. ... Hardtack Oak mushroom cloud Hardtack Sorocco mushroom cloud An RB-57 Canberra observes Juniper. ... During the Cold War, Operation Nougat was a series of thirty-two nuclear tests conducted (with one exception) at the Nevada Test Site during the 1962 Fiscal Year. ... Operation Sunbeam was a series of nuclear tests conducted at the United States of Americas Nevada Test Site. ... Pacific Ocean detonation Operation Dominic I and II was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 and 1963 by the United States. ... Operation Storax was the series of American nuclear tests of the Operation Dominic I and II series which took place in Fiscal 1963, but excluding the Sedan blast, which was part of the Plowshare program. ... Operation Niblick was a series of twenty-seven underground nuclear explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1963 and 1964. ... Operation Whetstone was a series of thirty-six American nuclear tests conducted in 1964 and 1965. ... American military history records two operations called Flintlock: Operation Flintlock was the campaign against the Marshall Islands in the Pacific campaign of World War II, from January to February 1944. ... Operation Latchkey was a series of twenty-seven nuclear test explosions conducted in 1966 and 67 at the Nevada Test Site (with one exception). ... Operation Crosstie was a series of thirty-three nuclear tests mostly conducted in Nevada during 1967 and 1968. ... Operation Bowline was a series of thirty nuclear test explosions conducted in 1968 and 1969 at the Nevada Test Site. ... Operation Mandrel was a series of forty-three nuclear test explosions. ... Operation Emery was a series of twelve nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Operation Quicksilver (United States, 1978 - 1979) was a nuclear test series of eighteen blasts conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1978 and 1979. ... Operation Tinderbox was a series of fifteen nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1979 and 1980. ... History records two military operations named Operation Guardian: The 1948 British-backed attempt to spark an anti-Communist civil war in Yugoslavia. ... Military history records no less than three plans, all called Operation Musketeer: Musketeer was a four-phased plan during World War II to liberate the Philippine Islands developed by General Douglas MacArthur’s staff as part of the larger Reno V plan. ...

See also

• U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
• BREN Tower
• Upshot-Knothole Grable (Frenchman Flat)
• Big Explosives Experimental Facility (BEEF)
• U1a Experimental Facility
• Atomic Testing Museum

Shield of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. ... BREN Tower BREN Tower is a guyed steel framework mast, 465 meters (1,527 feet) high, on the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, USA. BREN stands for Bare Reactor Experiment, Nevada. ... The mushroom cloud from Upshot-Knothole Grable, with the cannon it was fired from in the foreground. ... The Atomic Testing Museum museum open in March of 2005 and is located in downtown Las Vegas. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nevada Test Site

• DOE Nevada Test Site
• Origins of the Nevada Test Site
• Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
• Account of NTS fallout in 1955 (PDF)
• Study Estimating Thyroid Doses of I-131 Received by Americans From Nevada Atmospheric Nuclear Bomb Test, National Cancer Institute (1997)
• Atomic Testing Museum
• Location maps:
  • Small map
  • Detailed map showing the individual areas
• Annotated bibliography for the Nevada Test Site from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 37.051606° -116.030388°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA