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Nevada Test Site

The Nevada Test Site is a United States Department of Energy reservation located about 65 miles northwest of the City of Las Vegas. Formerly known as the Nevada Proving Ground the site, established on January 11, 1951 for the testing of nuclear weapons, is composed of approximately 1,350 square miles of desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats on January 27, 1951.

  • 1,100 buildings
  • 400 miles paved roads
  • 300 miles unpaved roads
  • 10 heliports
  • 2 airstrips

Site is home to Area 51, Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility, and the doomsday rocket (last strike missile).

See also: Atomic Energy Commission, Frenchman Flat[?], Big Explosives Experimental Facility[?], U1a Experimental Facility[?]



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