Nevada National Security Site ( N2S2 or NNSS ), formerly Nevada Test Site ( NTS ), is a reservation of the US Department of Energy located in southeast Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the city of Las Vegas. Formerly known as Nevada Proving Grounds , the site was established on January 11, 1951 for testing of nuclear devices, covering approximately 1,360 square miles (3,500 km 2 ) deserts and mountain areas. The nuclear weapons test at the Nevada Test Site started with a 1-kiloton-of-TNT (4.2 TJ) bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on January 27, 1951. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era came from NTS. NNSS is operated by Mission Support and Testing Services, LLC.
During the 1950s, a mushroom cloud of 100 atmospheric tests can be seen nearly 100 miles (160 km). The city of Las Vegas is experiencing a real seismic effect, and a distant mushroom cloud, which can be seen from downtown hotels, becomes a tourist spot. St. George, Utah, accepts the burden of falling nuclear tests on the ground at the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site. Winds routinely bring the fall of these tests directly through St. George and Utah south. Marks an increase in cancer, such as leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal cancers, reported from the mid-1950s to 1980. Subsequently, 828 nuclear tests were performed underground.
From 1986 to 1994, two years after the United States withdrew full-scale nuclear weapons testing, 536 anti-nuclear protests were held on the Nevada Test Site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records. Those arrested included astronomer Carl Sagan and Krisdayanti actor, Martin Sheen, and Robert Blake.
The Nevada Test Site contains 28 areas, 1,100 buildings, 400 miles (640 km) of unpaved roads, 300 miles of unpaved roads, 10 heliports, and two airstrips.
Currently, Management & amp; The Operational Contractor (M & amp; O) is the Mission Support and Testing Service (MSTS). They manage and operate NNSS for NNSA. Security Protection Contractor is SOC LLC because they provide security and security for NNSS.
Video Nevada Test Site
History
The Nevada Test Site was established as an area of ​​680 square miles (1,800 km 2 ) by President Harry S. Truman on December 18, 1950, inside the Gunnery and Bombing Range Nuclear Air Force.
1951-1992
The Nevada Test Site was the primary testing site of the American nuclear device from 1951 to 1992; 928 announced a nuclear test took place there. Of them, 828 is underground. (Sixty-two of the underground tests included multiple, simultaneous nuclear detonations, adding 93 detonations and carrying the total number of NTS nuclear detonations to 1,021, of which 921 are underground.) The site is covered with a surface drop crater of the test.
NTS is the prime location of the United States for tests in the range of 500 to 1,000 kt (2,100 to 4,200 TJ). 126 tests were performed elsewhere, including the largest test. Much of this is happening in Pacific Grounding Proving in the Marshall Islands.
During the 1950s, mushroom clouds from atmospheric tests can be seen nearly 100 miles (160 km). The city of Las Vegas is experiencing a real seismic effect, and a distant mushroom cloud, which can be seen from downtown hotels, becomes a tourist spot. The final atmospheric test blast at the Nevada Test Site was "Little Feller I" from Operation Sunbeam, on July 17, 1962.
Although the United States has not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, it respects treaty terms, and underground weapons testing ended on September 23, 1992. Subcritical tests that do not involve critical mass continue.
A famous test shot was the "Sedan" Operation Storax shot on July 6, 1962, a 104-kiloton-of-TNT (440 TJ) shot for Operation Plowshare, which sought to prove that nuclear weapons could be used for peaceful means in creating bay or channel. This creates a 1,280 foot (390 m) wide and 320 feet (100 m) deep crater that can still be seen today.
1992-present
The site is scheduled to be used to test conventional explosives of 1,100 tons in an operation known as Divine Strake in June 2006. The bomb is a possible alternative to nuclear bunker bunkers. After an objection from members of the Congress of Nevada and Utah, the operation was postponed to 2007. On February 22, 2007, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) officially canceled the experiment. On December 7, 2012, the most recent explosion was carried out, underground sub-critical tests of the properties of plutonium.
Maps Nevada Test Site
Destruction and survivability testing
Testing various effects of nuclear weapons explosion was carried out during the above ground test. Many types of vehicles (from car to plane), nuclear fall and standard bomb shelter, public utility stations and other building structures and equipment are placed at a measured distance from "zero", the point on the surface immediately below or above the center of the explosion. Operation Cue tests civil defense actions. Such covert and commercial effects testing was carried out with many atomic tests from Operation Greenhouse in Eniwetok Atoll, Operation Upshot-Knothole and Operation Teapot at NTS.
Houses and commercial buildings of various types and styles are built to the typical standards of American cities and (less often) in Europe. Other such structures include military fortifications (the type used by NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact) and civil defense and the "back" -type of shelter. In such a typical test, some similar buildings and structures may be constructed using the same layout and plan with different types of materials, paints, general landscapes, the cleanliness of the surrounding yard, angle-walls or distances that vary from zero. Mannequins placed in and around the vehicle and test house, in addition to some left in the open, to test clothing and shock effects.
High-speed cameras are placed in a protected location to capture the effects of radiation and shock waves. The typical imaging of this camera shows the boiling paint of the building, which is then pushed away from zero by a shock wave before being pulled toward the blast by a suction caused by a climbing mushroom cloud. Records from this camera have become icons, used in various media and available in the public domain and on DVD.
This test allows the development of Civil Defense guides, distributed to the public, to increase the likelihood of survival in the event of a nuclear or aerial attack.
Environmental impact
Every subterranean explosion - some as deep as 5,000 feet - vaporizes a large space, leaving a cavity filled with radioactive ruins. About one-third of the tests are conducted directly in the aquifer, and the other is hundreds or thousands of feet below the surface of the water.
When the underground explosion ended in 1992, the Department of Energy estimated that over 300 megacuries (11 EBq) of radioactivity remained in the neighborhood at the time, making this site one of the most radioactively contaminated locations in the United States. In the zone most seriously affected, the radioactivity concentration in groundwater reaches millions of pikters per liter. (The federal standard for drinking water is 20 picocuries per liter (0.74 Bq/l).) Although radioactivity levels in water continue to decline over time, longer-lived isotopes such as plutonium or uranium may pose a risk to workers or settlers future. in NNSS for tens of thousands of years.
The Department of Energy has 48 on-site monitoring wells, and started drilling nine deep wells in 2009. Because contaminated water poses no direct health threat, the department has placed Nevada as a low priority to clean up major nuclear weapons sites, and operate much more few wells than most other contaminated sites. In 2009, tritium with a half-life of 12.3 years was first detected in groundwater outside the northwest corner of NTS at Pahute Mesa, near the test site of Benbo and Tyrol in 1968.
The DOE issued an annual environmental monitoring report containing data from 48 monitoring wells both on and off the premises.
Protests and demonstrations
From 1986 to 1994, two years after the United States held a full-scale nuclear weapons test, 536 demonstrations were held on the Nevada Test Site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records.
On February 5, 1987, more than 400 people were arrested, as they tried to enter the country's nuclear proof zone after nearly 2,000 protesters staged a protest to protest a nuclear weapons test. Those arrested included astronomer Carl Sagan and Krisdayanti actor, Martin Sheen, and Robert Blake. Five members of the Democratic Congress attended the rally: Thomas J. Downey, Mike Lowry, Jim Bates, Leon E. Panetta, and Barbara Boxer.
The American Peace Test (APT) and Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) host most of these. In March 1988, APT held an event in which over 8,000 people attended the ten-day action to "Reclaim the Test Site", in which nearly 3,000 people were arrested with more than 1,200 in one day. It sets a record for the arrest of civil disobedience in one protest. The American Peace Test is collectively run by a group of individuals living in Las Vegas, but the leadership for the group is national. It comes from a small group of people active in the National Nuclear Weapon Liberation. APT was a breakaway organization started in 1986, with the first public event held in 1987.
In the following years of 1994, the Shundahai Network in collaboration with the Nevada Desert Experience and Corbin Harney continued protests against the government's nuclear weapons work and also made efforts to stop the repository for radioactive waste that is very adjacent to the test site at Yucca Mountain, 100Ã, °. mi (160 km) northwest of Las Vegas.
The modern usage
Test sites offer monthly public tours, often fully booked several months in advance. Visitors are not allowed to bring cameras, binoculars, or cell phones, nor are they allowed to take stones for souvenirs.
Although there are no more nuclear weapons tests on site, there is still testing done to determine the viability of old nuclear weapons in the United States. In addition, this location is the location of the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Complex, which sorts and stores low-level non-transuranic radioactive waste and has a half-life of no more than 20 years. Bechtel Nevada Corporation (Lockheed Martin joint venture, Bechtel, and Johnson Controls) ran the complex until 2006. Several other companies won tender for the contract since and combined to form a new company called National Security Technologies, LLC (Northrop Grumman joint venture, AECOM , CH2M Hill, and Nuclear Fuel Service until 2017.). Mission Support and Test Services, LLC took over the contract that year. AECOM, previously known as Holmes and Narver, holds the Nevada Test Site contract for many years before Bechtel Nevada Corporation owns it.
The Radiological/Nuclear WMD Insident Exercise Site (T-1), which replicates several terrorist radiology incidents with trains, planes, cars, trucks, and helicopter props located at Area 1, at the former test site EASY, SIMON, APPLE-2, and GALILEO.
Landmarks and geography
A table of interesting places in and around NNSS is presented here, which corresponds to many descriptions in the Nevada Test Site Guide.
Cancer and test site
St. George, Utah accepts the burden of falling nuclear tests on the ground at the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site. Winds routinely bring the fall of these tests directly through St. George and Utah south. Signs of increased cancer such as leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal cancers are reported from the mid-1950s to 1980s.
On May 19, 1953, the United States government detonated a 32-kiloton atomic bomb (130 TJ) (nicknamed "Harry") on the Nevada Test Site. The bomb then gets the name "Dirty Harry" because of the large number of off-site collisions generated by the bomb. The wind brings the fall of 135 miles (217 km) to St. George, where residents reported "some sort of weird feeling in the air."
Howard Hughes movie, The Conqueror , is being filmed in St. George at the time of the explosion occurred. The fall is often blamed for the very high percentage of cancer deaths amongst the cast and crew. However, the cancer rate of the players and crew (& gt; 90 of 220) is almost identical to the general population, of which 43% can be estimated to have cancer in their lifetime, and 23% die from it. Nonetheless, there is connection speculation.
A 1962 United States Atomic Energy Commission report found that "children living in St. George, Utah may have received radioiodine thyroid doses as high as 120- 440 rads" (1.2 to 4.4 Gy). A 1979 study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that:
A significant excess of leukemia deaths occurred in children up to the age of 14 living in Utah between 1959 and 1967. This excess concentrated in groups of children born between 1951 and 1958, and most prominent in those living in areas that receive high impact.
In 1982, a lawsuit filed by nearly 1,200 people accused the government of negligence in atomic and/or nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s, which they said had caused leukemia and other cancers. Dr Karl Z. Morgan, Director of Physical Health at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, testified that radiation protection measures in tests were below the known standards of best practice at the time.
In a report by the National Cancer Institute, released in 1997, it was determined that ninety atmospheric tests at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) deposited radioactive levels of iodine-131 â € <â € Uranium miners, factory workers, and ore carriers also qualify to earn $ 100,000 of merciful payouts under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program, while $ 75,000 is the fixed amount of payments for workers who are participants in nuclear weapons testing on the ground.
A series of nuclear tests conducted on the Nevada Test Site
Territory
Test Site is divided into several areas. Some areas and their uses include the following:
Area 1
Area 1 holds eight nuclear tests with a total of nine detonations. Four initial atmospheric tests were conducted over Area 1 in the early 1950s, as well as three underground tests in 1971 and 1990. In 1955, a Civil Defense experiment (called Operation Cue in the press) studied the effects of nuclear explosions on different types of buildings; some structures still stand.
Heavy drilling equipment and concrete construction facilities are located in Area 1. Non-destructive X-rays, gamma rays, and subcritical detonation tests are continuing in Area 1.
The presence of radioactivity in soils in Area 1 provides radiologically contaminated environments for the training of first responders.
Area 2
Area 2 is a division of the Nevada Test Site in the Mojave Desert. The area is located 18 miles southwest of Area 51.
Area 2 is a 144 test site consisting of 169 detonations. Shot "Gabbs", intended for 1993, was left in place.
Area 3
Area 3 holds 266 nuclear tests with a total of 288 detonations, more than in other areas of NTS.
As part of Operation Tinderbox, on 24 June 1980, a small satellite prototype (DSCS III) was subjected to radioactivity from a "Huron King" shot in a vertical sight test (VLOS) test carried out in Area 3. This was a program to improve the database on design techniques nuclear hardening for satellite defense.
The latest explosion in the Nevada Test Site was the Julin Operation Divine on September 23, 1992, just before the moratorium temporarily ended all nuclear tests. The divider is a test shot safety experiment that is detonated at the bottom of the sinking rod into Area 3.
In 1995 and 1997, plutonium-contaminated soil from "Double Tracks" and "Clean Slate 1" from Operation Roller Coaster (1963) was taken from Tonopah Test Range and taken to Area 3 of Radioactive Waste Management Site as the first step in returning Tonopah Test Range to an environmentally neutral state. Corrective actions concerning contaminated material from the "Clean Slate" and "Clean Slate 3" tests have not been agreed.
Area 4
Area 4 holds 40 nuclear tests with a total of 44 detonations.
This is home to the Big Explosive Experimental Facility (BEEF).
Area 5
Area 5 held 19 nuclear tests. Five atmospheric tests were detonated, beginning on 27 January 1951 in Area 5 as part of Operation Ranger. This is the first nuclear test in NTS. Detection of towers was further studied in Area 5, and Gredia shoot fired from the M65 Atomic Cannon located in Area 11 exploded in Area 5. Test Priscilla was performed in Area 5 at 24 June 1957.
Five underground tests established in Area 5; four of them suffer the accidental release of radioactive material. On March 16, 1968, physicist Glenn T. Seaborg toured Milk Shake from the upcoming Operation Crosstie. Radioactive Milk Shake ' is not detected beyond the NTS limit.
Area 6
Area 6 holds four nuclear tests for a total of six detonations. Only two cities to be established within the NTS boundary before 1947, BJ Wye and Mule Lick, are located in Yucca Flats, in Area 6. This area has an asphalt runway, built on a dirt land foundation, dating back to the 1950s. Some buildings, including hangars, are located near the runway.
The Device Assembly Facility (DAF) was originally built to consolidate nuclear explosive assembly operations. It now functions as a Critical Trial Facility (CEF).
Control Point is the NTS communication center. It is used by controllers to trigger and monitor nuclear test explosions.
In 1982, when a live nuclear bomb was lowered underground, the base was attacked by armed fighters. Combatants turn into security teams that do not work on schedule.
Area 7
Area 7 holds 92 nuclear tests.
During Operation Buster, four successful tests were performed through airborne, with a bomber aircraft releasing nuclear weapons above Area 7.
This is also a Matthew Reilly book site titled Area 7 .
The "Icecap" Shot planned for 1993 was abandoned in Area 7 after a 1992 testing moratorium. Towers, shafts and cables remained in place, along with cranes intended to lower the nuclear test pack to the shaft.
Area 8
Area 8 holds 13 nuclear tests with a total of 15 detonations.
Area 8 hosted Operation Emery's "Baneberry" shots on December 18, 1970. The Baneberry 10 kT (42 TJ) test detonated 900 feet (270 m) below the surface but his energy broke the ground in unexpected ways, causing a gap near ground zero and failure of the rod and lid. A number of fires and dust were released, rain fell on workers at different locations in NTS. The radioactive plume released 6.7 megacuries (250 PBq) of radioactive material, including 80 kCi (3.0 PBq) from Iodine 131 .
Area 9
Area 9 holds 115 nuclear tests with a total of 133 detonations.
In Area 9, the 74-kt (310Ã, TJ) "Hood" test on 5 July 1957, part of Operation Plumbbob, was the largest atmospheric test ever conducted in the continental United States; almost five times as much as the result of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima. A balloon carrying Hood up to 460 meters above the ground where it was blown up. More than 2,000 soldiers took part in tests to train them in conducting operations on the nuclear battlefield. 11 megacuries (410Ã, PBq) of iodine-131 â € <â € <( 131 I) is released into the air.
Area 10
Area 10 held 57 nuclear tests with a total of 71 detonations.
The first underground test in NTS was a shot of "Uncle" Operation Jangle. Uncle detonated on 29 November 1951 in a shaft sinking into Area 10.
The "John" shot from Plumbbob, on July 19, 1957, was the first test of an air-to-air nuclear-grade Genie airborne 2 missile designed to destroy enemy bombers coming with nuclear explosions. The 2 k warhead (8.4 T TJ) exploded about three miles over five volunteers and a photographer standing unprotected at ground zero in Area 10 to show the apparent safety of weapons of war to personnel on land. The test also demonstrates the ability of fighter aircraft to deliver nuclear-tipped rockets and avoid destruction in the process. Northrop F-89J fired rockets.
The "Sedan" Test of Storax Operation on July 6, 1962, a 104Ã, kt (440Ã, TJ) was shot for Operation Plowshare that sought to find whether nuclear weapons could be used for peaceful means of creating lakes, bays or canals. The explosion moved twelve million tons of earth, creating a Sedan crater that has a depth of 1,280 feet (390 m) and a depth of 320 feet (100 m).
Area 11
Area 11 holds 9 nuclear tests. Four of these tests are weapons security experiments conducted as Project 56; they spread so much harmful radioactive material around the test site that Area 11 has been called "Plutonium Valley". As with Area 1, the level of background radiation makes Area 11 suitable for realistic training in radiation detection methods.
Area 12
Area 12 held 61 nuclear tests between 1957 and 1992, one of which involved two detonations. All tests were performed under Rainier and Aqueduct mesas.
Area 12 is the prime location for the tunnel test and is used almost exclusively for that purpose. Tunnel complexes mined to Rainier and Aqueduct Mesa include complexes B-, C-, D-, E-, F-, G-, I-, J-, K-, N-, G-, I-, J-, K -, N-, P-, and T-Tunnel, and R- and S-shafts.
Area 13
There is no Area 13 in NNSS, although the name is attached to the Nellis Air Force Range section adjacent to the northeast corner of Area 15. The weapons safety test Project 57 was conducted here on 24 April 1957, spreading the particles emitting alpha radiation over a large area.
Area 14
Area 14 occupies about 26 square miles (67 km 2 ) in the center of NNSS. Various outdoor experiments were conducted in this area. No nuclear tests in the atmosphere or underground are done in Area 14.
Area 15
Three underground detonations occurred in area 15 in the 1960s.
Pile Driver is a famous Department of Defense test. A large underground installation was built to learn the survival abilities of a hardened underground bunker that suffered a nuclear attack. Information from the test was used in designing a hardened missile silo and the North American Air Defense Command facility in Colorado Springs.
The abandoned Crystal and Climax Mines are found in Area 15. The storage tanks store contaminated materials.
From 1964 to 1981, the Environmental Protection Agency operated a 36-hectare (150,000 m 2 ) farm in Area 15. Plant size and soil research evaluated the absorption of pollutants in vegetables grown on farms and from forages eaten by a herd of milk from about 30 Holstein cows. Scientists are also studying horses, pigs, goats, and chickens.
Area 16
Area 16 held six nuclear tests.
Area 17
There is no nuclear test in Area 17.
Area 18
Area 18 held five nuclear tests. and includes Pahute Mesa Airstrip.
Area 19
Pahute Mesa is one of four major nuclear test areas within the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). It occupies 243 square miles (630 km 2 ) in the northwest corner of NNSS. The eastern part is known as Area 19 and the western part as Area 20.
A total of 85 nuclear tests were conducted at Pahute Mesa between 1965 and 1992. Three of them - Boxcar, Benham and Handley - have more than one megaton. Three tests were performed as part of Operation Plowshare and one as part of Vela Uniform.
Area 20
Area 22
No nuclear tests were conducted in Area 22. Area 22 has held Camp Desert Rock, a staging base for troops undergoing nuclear explosive training in the atmosphere; A total of 9,000 troops camped there in 1955. Desert Rock's runway was enlarged to 7,500 feet (2,300 m) in 1969 by the Atomic Energy Commission. It is a transportation hub for personnel and supplies going towards NNSS and also serves as an emergency landing lane.
Area 23
No nuclear tests were conducted in Area 23. Mercury City, Nevada is located in Area 23. This area is the main route to and from the NNSS test site with US 95 route. The open dump is located west of Mercury. , and a hazardous waste site covered bordering the landfill. Mercury is also a major management area for sites that include large bars and cafeterias, printing plants, medical centers, warehouses, fleet management, liquidation and recycling centers, engineering offices, dormitories and other administrative areas for O & M contractors, LLNL, LANL, and SNL personnel. At its peak in the 1950s and 60s it also held several restaurants, bowling alley, movie theater, and motel.
Area 25
Area 26
No nuclear tests were conducted in Area 26, the driest part of NNSS. An abandoned old mine, the Silver Mine Horn, was used for waste disposal between 1959 and 1970s; some radioactive waste. Water flow through the shaft can pose a human health risk, so corrective action has been planned.
In 1983 the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted a NUWAX-83 test near Port Gaston in Area 26, simulating the explosion of a nuclear-armed helicopter and spreading the spread of nuclear debris over 65 acres. The radioactive material used to simulate an accident becomes inert in less than six months.
The eight-square-mile complex is built in Area 26 to support the Pluto Project. It consists of six miles of roads, important assembly buildings, control buildings, assembly and store buildings, and utilities. These buildings have been used recently as reactor reactor facilities in the first respondent training.
Area 27
Area 28
Area 28 no longer exists; it is absorbed into Area 25 and 27.
Area 29
No nuclear tests were conducted in Area 29. Area rough terrain 29 serves as a buffer between other areas of NNSS. Helipads are present at Shoshone Peak.
Area 30
Area 30 occupies about 59 square miles (150 km 2 ) in the middle of the western edge of NNSS. Area 30 has a heavy field and covers the northern part of Fortymile Canyon. It is used primarily for military training and training.
Area 30 is a single nuclear test site, Crosstie Buggy line load experiment, part of Operation Plowshare, which involves five simultaneous detonations.
See also
- List of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
- Semipalatinsk Test Site
- Novaya Zemlya Test Site
- Area 51
- Totskoye nuclear training
- International Day against Nuclear Test
- Agnes Moorehead # Death
- The Conqueror (1956 movie) #Cancer controversy
References
External links
- Nevada DOE Test Site
- The Trial Project in Nevada Oral History Project
- The Origin of the Nevada Test Site
- Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
- The Atomic Test Effect in the Nevada Region Test Region was published by the AEC in 1955, a document with a civil audience in mind.
- The NTS fallout account of 1955 (PDF)
- Study Estimates Thyroid Dose I-131 Accepted by Americans From the Nevada Nuclear Nuclear Test, National Cancer Institute (1997)
- Nevada Test Site Drawing on the atomic bomb website
- Location map:
- Small map
- Detailed map showing each area (archived on 2007-08-12 at archive.org)
- Annotated Bibliography for the Nevada Test Site from Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
- 'Affected' spreading anti-nuke messages
- Nevada Test Site aerial photos by Doc Searles, all licensed Creative Commons
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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