Nevada Testing Site

By BradySparks
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    Nevada Testing Site

  • President Harry Truman authorizes location of atomic testing

    President Harry Truman authorizes location of atomic testing
    • Created due to fear of Soviet Union increasing their atomic weapons
    • 680 square mile piece of land
    • Originally the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range, 65 miles north of Las Vegas

  • Nuclear Testing Begins with Detonation of "Shot Able"

    Nuclear Testing Begins with Detonation of "Shot Able"
    • 1 kiloton bomb
    • air-dropped onto lakebed within the site
    • first test done on U.S. mainland following WW2

  • Operation Plumbbob

    Operation Plumbbob
    • 29 nuclear tests over 3 month span, longest series ever
    • Goals: improve weapons, safety testing, bio-medical experiments -released large amounts of radioiodine (I-131) into the atmosphere producing about 32% of all civilian exposure

  • Tourist Attraction

    Tourist Attraction
    -Mushroom clouds from the atmospheric tests could be seen up to 100 miles away in the distance
    - Las Vegas hotels promoted view of bomb testing, advertised detonation times
    -Casinos hosted “dawn parties” and created atomic themed cocktails, encouraging visitors to view the tests

  • Operation Nougat

    Operation Nougat
    • 1st undergound nuclear tests
    • originally planned to occur off coast of Alaska
    • decided to test at NTS to develop fallout map

  • End of Testing

    End of Testing
    • Last atmospheric nuclear test occurs
    • Concerns arise about effects on public health
    • Environmental danger concerns

  • Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

    Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
    • President Kennedy, UK, and Soviet Union sign -prohibited nuclear weapons tests and nuclear explosions underwater, in outer space, and in the atmosphere -Underground testing was still permitted if no debris were to fall outside the boundaries of the nation

  • Schooner Test

    Schooner Test
    • underground test part of operation bowline -effort to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes
    • yielded 30 kilotons

  • Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

    Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
    -payments made to some of the people who claimed to have been affected by the fallout from the nuclear tests
    - St George, Utah major example of radiation exposure effects
    - studies showed cancer rates in this area increased from 1950 to 1980 as they were in "downwinder" path

  • Last Underground Test at NTS

    Last Underground Test at NTS
    • last test done at site -renamed Nevada National Security Site
    • can be visited/toured as a historic site