Nevada Test Site

in southern Nevada, showing the site The site was established as a area by President Harry S. Truman on December 18, 1950, within the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range. 1951–1992 The site was the primary testing location of American nuclear devices from 1951 to 1992; 928 announced nuclear tests occurred there. Of those, 828 were underground (62 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 contains many subsidence craters from the testing. The site was the United States' primary location for tests smaller than . One hundred twenty-six tests were conducted elsewhere, including most larger tests. Many of these occurred at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands. . During the 1950s, the mushroom clouds from atmospheric tests could be seen for almost . The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the distant mushroom clouds, which could be seen from the downtown hotels, became tourist attractions. The last atmospheric test detonation at the site was "Little Feller I" of Operation Sunbeam, on July 17, 1962. Although the United States did not ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, it honors the articles of the treaty, and underground testing of weapons ended as of September 23, 1992. Subcritical tests not involving a critical mass continued. One notable test shot was the "Sedan" shot of Operation Storax on July 6, 1962, a shot for 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. 1992–present More than 27 subcritical tests have been conducted at the site. In 2018, the State of Nevada sued the federal government to block a plan to ship "more than a metric ton" of plutonium to the site for temporary storage. In 2022, the government acknowledged that 13,625 cubic meters of radioactive material conforming to its disposal criteria had been shipped to the site for disposal. ==Destruction and survivability testing==

'' nuclear test. Testing of the various effects of detonation of nuclear weapons was carried out during above-ground tests. Many kinds of vehicles (ranging from cars to aircraft), nuclear-fallout and standard bomb-shelters, public-utility stations and other building structures and equipment were placed at measured distances away from "ground zero", the spot on the surface immediately under or over the center of the blast. Operation Cue tested civil defense measures. Such civilian and commercial effects testing was done with many of the atomic tests of Operation Greenhouse on Eniwetok Atoll, Operation Upshot-Knothole and Operation Teapot at the site. Homes and commercial buildings of many different types and styles were built to standards typical of American and (less-often) European cities. Other such structures included military fortifications (of types used by both NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact) and civil-defense as well as "backyard"-type shelters. In such a typical test, several of the same buildings and structures might be built using the same layouts and plans with different types of materials, paints, general landscaping, cleanliness of the surrounding yards, wall-angles or varying distances from ground zero. Mannequins were placed in and around the test vehicles and buildings, aside from some left out in the open, for testing clothing and shock effects. 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 the buildings, which are then pushed violently 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. This testing allowed the development of Civil Defense 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 (1.5 km)—vaporized a large chamber, leaving a cavity filled with radioactive rubble. About a third of the tests were conducted directly in aquifers, and others were hundreds or thousands of feet below the water table. When underground explosions ended in 1992, the Department of Energy estimated that more than of radioactivity remained in the environment at that time, making the site one of the most contaminated locations in the United States. In the most seriously affected zones, the concentration of radioactivity in groundwater reaches millions of picocuries per liter. (The federal standard for drinking water is 20 picocuries per liter (0.74 Bq/L).) Although radioactivity levels in the water continue to decline over time, the longer-lived isotopes like plutonium or uranium could pose risks for thousands of years. The DOE issues an annual environmental monitoring report containing data from the monitoring wells both on and off site. ==Protests and demonstrations==

hold a prayer vigil during the Easter period of 1982 at the entrance to the site. In 1983, four Greenpeace activists made the first incursion into the site of an active test. Two American men, one from West Germany and one from the United Kingdom hiked 30 miles on foot to hide in the desert near ground zero at Yucca Flats. The four evaded capture for a week with the stated objective of delaying the test, and were charged with trespassing. From 1986 through 1994, two years after the United States ended nuclear weapons testing, 536 demonstrations were held at the site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records. On February 5, 1987, more than 400 people were arrested trying to enter the site after nearly 2,000 demonstrators held a rally to protest nuclear weapons testing. Those arrested included the astronomer Carl Sagan and the actors Kris Kristofferson, Martin Sheen, and Robert Blake. Five Democratic members of Congress attended the rally: Thomas J. Downey, Mike Lowry, Jim Bates, Leon E. Panetta, and Barbara Boxer. 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, including more than 1,200 in one day. This set a record for most civil disobedience arrests in a single protest. On October 12, 1992, an 11-day protest took place at the Test Site. At the invitation of the Western Shoshone Tribe and Corbin Harney, an anti-nuclear activist and spiritual leader for the Newe people, over 2,000 protesters from 12 different countries gathered for "Healing Global Wounds". In their media work, protesters and organizers demanded an end to nuclear weapons testing and return of the test site to the Western Shoshone people. Camped in the desert, participants took part in anti-racism and peaceful civil disobedience trainings. They planned actions and demonstrations, eventually using culverts and other means to enter the Test Site where 530 were arrested by Wackenhut Security forces on charges of trespassing. Full-scale nuclear weapons testing did not resume. After 1994, Shundahai Network in cooperation with Nevada Desert Experience and Corbin Harney continued the protests of the work at the site and staged efforts to stop a repository for highly radioactive waste adjacent to the test site at nearby Yucca Mountain. ==Modern usage==

/counter-terrorism training exercise at the site. The site continues to be used for nuclear weapons research and development. This includes subcritical testing. These tests are conducted jointly by Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the British Atomic Weapons Establishment. A recent one was Ediza (2019), and Nightshade A (2020). The site offers monthly public tours, often booked months in advance. Visitors are not allowed to bring cameras, binoculars, or cell phones, nor are they permitted to pick up rocks for souvenirs. While there are no longer any explosive tests of nuclear weapons at the site, there is still testing done 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 of less than 20 years. The Radiological/Nuclear WMD Incident Exercise Site (T-1) replicates multiple terrorist radiological incidents with train, plane, automobile, truck, and helicopter props. It is located in Area 1, at the former site of tests EASY, SIMON, APPLE-2, and GALILEO. ==Landmarks and geography==

A table of interesting places in and around the NNSS is presented here, which corresponds with many of the descriptions in the Nevada Test Site Guide. ==Cancer and test site==

fallout exposure in rads Many communities east of the Nevada Test Site, including Cedar City, Enterprise, and St. George, Utah, received fallout from above-ground nuclear testing in the Yucca Flats at the site. Winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through St. George and southern Utah. Marked increases in cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers were reported from the mid-1950s through 1980. A 1962 United States Atomic Energy Commission report found that "children living in St. George, Utah may have received doses to the thyroid of radioiodine as high as 120 to 440 rads" (1.2 to 4.4 Gy). A 1979 study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that: A significant excess of leukemia 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 site, which they said had caused leukemia and other cancers. Dr. Karl Z. Morgan, Director of Health Physics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, testified that radiation protection measures in the tests were substandard to best practices at the time. In a report by the National Cancer Institute, released in 1997, it was determined that 90 atmospheric tests at the site deposited high levels of radioactive iodine-131 (5.5 exabecquerels) across much of the contiguous United States, especially in the years 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1957doses large enough, it claimed, to produce 10,000 to 75,000 cases of thyroid cancer. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 allowed for people living downwind of the site for at least two years in particular Nevada, Arizona, or Utah counties, between January 21, 1951, and October 31, 1958, or June 30 and July 31, 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 2014, over 28,000 downwinder claims for a total compensation of $1.9 billion had been processed. 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 site==

• 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, Project 58/58A – 1957–1958 • Operation Hardtack II – 1958 • Operation Nougat – 1961–1962 • Operation Plowshare – 1961–1973 (sporadic, at least one test a year) • Operation Sunbeam (aka Dominic II) – 1962 • Operation Storax – 1963 • Operation Niblick – 1963–1964 • Operation Whetstone – 1964–1965 • Operation Flintlock – 1965–1966 • Operation Latchkey – 1966–1967 • Operation Crosstie – 1967–1968 • Operation Bowline – 1968–1969 • Operation Mandrel – 1969–1970 • Operation Emery – 1970 • Operation Grommet – 1971–1972 • Operation Toggle – 1972–1973 • Operation Arbor – 1973–1974 • Operation Bedrock – 1974–1975 • Operation Anvil – 1975–1976 • Operation Fulcrum – 1976–1977 • Operation Cresset – 1977–1978 • Operation Quicksilver – 1978–1979 • Operation Tinderbox – 1979–1980 • Operation Guardian – 1980–1981 • Operation Praetorian – 1981–1982 • Operation Phalanx – 1982–1983 • Operation Fusileer – 1983–1984 • Operation Grenadier – 1984–1985 • Operation Charioteer – 1985–1986 • Operation Musketeer – 1986–1987 • Operation Touchstone – 1987–1988 • Operation Cornerstone – 1988–1989 • Operation Aqueduct – 1989–1990 • Operation Sculpin – 1990–1991 • Operation Julin – 1991–1992 == Areas ==

The site is broken down into areas. Some of the areas and their uses include the following: Area 1 Area 1 held eight nuclear tests for a total of nine detonations. Area 2 Area 2 was the site of 144 tests comprising 169 detonations. 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 Coaster (1963) was picked up from the Tonopah Test Range 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. Area 5 Area 5 held 19 nuclear tests. Milk Shakes radioactive release was not detected outside of the site's boundaries. Area 6 Area 6 held four nuclear tests for a total of six detonations. The Device Assembly Facility (DAF) Area 7 Area 7 held 92 nuclear tests. Area 8 Area 8 held 13 nuclear tests for a total of 15 detonations. A plume of fire and dust was released, raining fallout on workers in different locations within the site. The radioactive plume released of radioactive material, including of Iodine131. Area 9 Area 9 held 115 nuclear tests for a total of 133 detonations. 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-89J fired the rocket. The "Sedan" test of Operation Storax on July 6, 1962, a shot for the Operation Plowshare which sought to discover whether nuclear weapons could be used for peaceful means in creating lakes, bays or canals. The explosion displaced 12 million tons of earth, creating the Sedan crater which is 1,280 feet (390 m) wide and 320 feet (100 m) deep. Area 11 Area 11 held 9 nuclear tests. Project 57's weapons safety test was conducted here on April 24, 1957, spreading particles emitting alpha radiation over a large area. Area 14 Area 14 occupies approximately 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 22 No nuclear tests took place in Area 22. In 1983 the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency performed the NUWAX-83 tests near Port Gaston in Area 26, simulating the explosion of a nuclear-armed helicopter and the resulting spread of nuclear debris over 65 acres. The radioactive material used to simulate the accident became inert in less than six months. An eight-square-mile complex was constructed in Area 26 in support of Project Pluto. Those buildings have been used recently as mock reactor facilities in the training of first responders. Area 27 Area 28 Area 28 no longer exists; it was absorbed into Areas 25 and 27. Area 29 No nuclear tests took place in Area 29. The rugged terrain of Area 29 serves as a buffer between other areas of NNSS. A helipad is present at Shoshone Peak. Area 30 '' test Area 30 occupies approximately 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 Plowshare, which involved five simultaneous detonations. ==See also==