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An Historical Perspective
Before the
Nevada Proving Grounds (NPG) -- forerunner of the Nevada Test Site --
was established, five tests ranging in size from 18 to 49 kilotons had
been conducted at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls in the Pacific Ocean from
June 1946 through 1948. However, with the outbreak of hostilities in
Korea in 1950, renewed attention was focused on the need for a
continental test site.
Relying on a top-secret feasibility study code-named "Nutmeg,"
conducted in 1946 by the Pentagon, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
selected the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range.
The Southern Nevada site was selected from a list of five
possibilities which included Alamogordo/White Sands, New Mexico; Dugway
Proving Ground, Utah; Pamilco Sound/Camp Lejuene, North Carolina; and a
50-mile-wide strip between Fallon and Eureka, Nevada.
The AEC made the final selection based on existing favorable
conditions: the site was already under government control, it was a
large area, had little rainfall, a low population density, and would be
easy to protect against penetrators.
President Harry S. Truman approved the establishment of the NPG on
January 11, 1951, and on January 27, 1951, the first atmospheric test
was detonated 1,060 feet above the surface of Frenchman Flat.
Named "Able" the one-kiloton device was part of the Operation Ranger
series, which consisted of five detonations ranging in size from one to
22 kilotons. All five devices were dropped from B-50 bombers that flew
out of Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Ranger series of tests went well until "Baker-2" was detonated on
February 2. The eight-kiloton device broke several store windows in Las
Vegas. Despite this the operation was called a success.
When the Ranger Series ended in 1951, AEC initiated plans to expand the
Test Site facilities. Construction began on utility and operational
structures, including communications, a control point, and additional
accommodations.
As a safety measure, AEC decided to move the testing area from
Frenchman Flat to Yucca Flat, where 12 areas were developed for air
drops, tower, surface, tunnel and balloon tests.
Mercury, the Test Site base camp, was expanded; a Post Office opened
on March 1, 1952.
South of Mercury the U.S. Sixth Army, headquartered at The Presido,
San Francisco, California, established Camp Desert Rock (near the
present day Desert Rock Airport). It was largely a tent camp with a few
semi-permanent structures. During non-test periods the camp was home to
about 100 people. During the 1955 Operation Teapot series of tests
conducted at Yucca Flat, camp population exceeded 5,000 military
personnel.
One noteworthy test was "Annie." The press named it "Shamrock"
because it was fired on March 17, 1953 -- St. Patrick's Day. Troops and
reporters who took part dubbed it "Survival City" and "Doom Town."
Scientists built a typical, small American community near ground zero,
complete with mannequins, automobiles, and a school bus. The test was to
study the impacts of a nuclear blast.
In the early years of the test program, scientists and technicians
responsible for each test series traveled from Albuquerque, New Mexico
to Nevada, and other locations throughout the U.S., usually about a
month before the first test.
At the end of each series they returned to Albuquerque to plan the
next sequence of tests and experiments.
The United States conducted 100 atmospheric nuclear tests at the NTS
from 1951 to 1962. The nuclear devices were dropped from planes,
detonated at or near ground level, shot from a 280-mm cannon, placed on
towers, and suspended from balloons.
On October 31, 1958 President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared a
moratorium and stopped all testing; the Soviet Union quickly followed in
November 1958. However, in September 1961 the Soviet Union unexpectedly
resumed testing with a series of 50 detonations. That forced the United
States to respond and on September 15, 1961, scientists began a series
of nine low yield underground experiments at Yucca Flat. Sixty-two tests
were conducted at the Test Site in 1962.
The increased year-round testing schedule made it necessary to
establish the Nevada Operations Office which officially opened in Las
Vegas on March 6, 1962.
On August 5, 1963 the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed in Moscow
prohibiting testing in outer space, underwater or in the atmosphere.
Another important milestone was the signing of the Threshold Test Ban
Treaty (TTBT) by President Richard M. Nixon on July 3, 1974 in Moscow.
The TTBT, which limited all nuclear tests yields to less than 150
kilotons, was not ratified by the U.S. until September 25, 1990.
On October 2, 1992 President Bush signed a nine-month moratorium
stopping all nuclear testing until July 1, 1993. On July 3, 1993 ,
President Bill Clinton pledged to extend the moratorium on nuclear
weapons testing until October 1994, as long as no other nation tests.
As of December 7, 1993, the United States had announced 1,054 nuclear
tests. Of these, 928 (including 24 joint U.S.-United Kingdom tests) were
conducted at the NTS.
While the Test Site and its employees await the future, the next 30
pages will take you back through 42 years of the history that has played
such an important role in maintaining peace through strength.
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