Nevada Test Site

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Nevada Test Site
The logo of the Nevada National Security Test Site (United States Department of Energy) as of January 2026.
The logo of the Nevada National Security Test Site (United States Department of Energy) as of January 2026. Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
TypePlace
Also known asNevada National Security Site
On the Timeline4 events, 1953–2016

The Nevada Test Site, renamed the Nevada National Security Site in 2010, is a U.S. Department of Energy reservation in Nye County, Nevada, about 105 km (65 miles) northwest of Las Vegas, where the United States carried out most of its nuclear weapons tests from 1951 to 1992. [1]

Establishment

Portrait of President Harry S. Truman (ca. 1947).
Portrait of President Harry S. Truman (ca. 1947). Photo: National Archives and Records Administration. Office of Presidential Libraries. Harry S… · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

President Harry Truman authorised the site on 18 December 1950, setting aside about 1,760 km² (680 square miles) of the Nellis Air Force gunnery and bombing range. It was called the Nevada Proving Ground until 1955. The site now covers about 3,500 km² (1,350 square miles).[1]

Nuclear tests

Nevada Test Site. Located 10,500 feet from Apple-2 ground zero, this two-story brick house was one of two identical structures erected for civil…
Nevada Test Site. Located 10,500 feet from Apple-2 ground zero, this two-story brick house was one of two identical structures erected for civil… Photo: Federal Government of the United States · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

The first test, part of Operation Ranger, was a bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on 27 January 1951. About 100 atmospheric tests followed, the last on 17 July 1962. In all, 928 announced nuclear tests were carried out at the site, 828 of them underground, most at Yucca Flat. The last, code-named Divider, took place on 23 September 1992. Since then the United States has observed a halt to nuclear testing, although it has carried out more than 27 "subcritical" experiments at the site.[1]

Fallout and protests

This view of downtown Las Vegas shows a mushroom cloud in the background. Scenes such as this were typical during the 1950's. From 1951 to 1962 the…
This view of downtown Las Vegas shows a mushroom cloud in the background. Scenes such as this were typical during the 1950's. From 1951 to 1962 the… Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Fallout from the atmospheric tests drifted over communities downwind, especially in Utah, and has been linked to increased cancer rates; the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 offered payments to affected "downwinders". The site was also a focus of anti-nuclear protest: government records list 536 demonstrations between 1986 and 1994, with more than 15,000 arrests.[1]

Operations

Buggy was the first nuclear row-charge experiment in the Plowshare Program (experiments to develop peaceful uses of nuclear explosives). The NTS…
Buggy was the first nuclear row-charge experiment in the Plowshare Program (experiments to develop peaceful uses of nuclear explosives). The NTS… Photo: Federal Government of the United States · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Defence contractors including EG&G helped run the site during the testing era. It is now managed for the National Nuclear Security Administration by a private consortium.[1][2]

On the UAP Timeline

Linda Moulton Howe receiving Emmy Award for Audio Achievement in documentary A Strange Harvest
Linda Moulton Howe receiving Emmy Award for Audio Achievement in documentary A Strange Harvest Photo: Larry W. Howe · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

References

This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.

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