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At 1,527 Feet, BREN Tower Dominates Test Site
Skyline
 The BREN Tower 1,527 feet tall, has been a focal point of attention
ever since it was erected on the Nevada Test Site in 1962.
During its 30 years, it has been part of the Yucca and Jackass Flat
skylines, and a platform for two important experiments --Bare Reactor
Experiment, Nevada (BREN), and the High Energy Neutron Reactions
Experiment (HENRE).
It was built by the Dresser-Ideco Company in Area 4 of Yucca Flat.
Constructed of 51 thirty-foot sections of high tensile steel, the
structure is higher than the Empire State Building's 1,472 feet. It is
supported by 5 1/2 miles of guy wires designed to withstand winds
exceeding 120 miles per hour. The tower was equipped with an outside
hoist to lift scientific equipment, and a two-person elevator inside the
tower which moved at 100 feet per minute. The tower weighs 345 tons.
It was prefabricated and shipped to Nevada on nine trailer trucks.
The first experiment (from which the BREN tower got its name) was the
Bare Reactor Experiment, Nevada. It was a major project of the Civil
Effects Test Organization of the Atomic Energy Commission's Division of
Biology and Medicine. The experiment was designed to develop a way to
accurately estimate the radiation doses received by selected survivors
of the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan.
A small, unshielded (bare) reactor was mounted on the hoist car and
moved to various heights up and down the tower. Japanese-type houses
were built near the base of the tower and were bombarded with various
intensities of radiation. The scientists wanted to determine what kind
of protection the shelters provided from the radiation of atomic
weapons.
As other studies were proposed for the tower, it became apparent that
they would be incompatible with the underground testing program. On
March 27, 1966, a $380,000 contract was awarded to the Dresser-Ideco
Company, Columbus, Ohio, to dismantle the tower and move it to Jackass
Flats in Area 25.
After the tower was erected at its new site, it was used for Operation
HENRE (High Energy Neutron Reactions Experiment), a series of radiation
measurement experiments using a small linear accelerator to provide
neutrons. HENRE was a $600,000 experiment jointly funded by the AEC and
the Department of Defense to develop information for the AEC's
bio-medical research program.
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