Nevada Nuclear Weapon Test Site, USA

The Nevada National Security Site, 105 km northwest of Las Vegas, was established in 1951 to test nuclear devices. Covering approximately 3,500 km2 of desert and mountainous terrain, atomic testing at the site began in 1951. Over the subsequent four decades, over 1,000 nuclear explosions were detonated at the site. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from the site.

The mushroom clouds from the tests could be seen from Las Vegas and became a popular tourist attraction during the 1950s, with partygoers gathering at dawn on the rooftops of Vegas casinos, cocktail in hand, to witness the explosions. Fallout was regularly carried on the wind, and increases in cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, brain cancer, brain tumours and others were reported in the area from the mid-1950s.

In 1962 atmospheric tests were stopped, and the tests moved underground. In 1992, the United States agreed to honour the Comprehensive National Test Ban Treaty, and underground testing ended. Today the site contains several facilities for maintaining and developing the US nuclear stockpile without detonating atomic bombs.

Part of a long-term project I am working on called "How We Learned to Stop Worrying".

"Apple-2" house used in atomic bomb test at the Nevada National Security Site. The test on May 5, 1955 was intended to test various building construction types in a nuclear blast. An assortment of buildings, including residential houses were constructed at the site nicknamed "Doom Town". The buildings were populated with mannequins, and stocked with different types of canned and packaged foods. Not all of the buildings were destroyed in the blast.

Crashed aircraft at the nuclear WMD training site (T1)

Nuclear WMD training site (T1) at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, this training centre was created to demonstrate an American community attacked by terrorists using radiological weapons. Four nuclear devices were detonated at this location between 1952 and 1957. The small amount of atomic fallout remaining from these detonations is now below the soil's surface, providing a realistic and safe training area today. The soil at the T-1 Site emits low levels of radiation, which simulates widespread radiological contamination weapons yet poses minimal risk to participants. The site contains fake shops, car crashes, aeroplanes, helicopters, and emergency vehicles.

Fake office at the nuclear WMD training site (T1)

Counter Terrorism Operations Support officer

Boots to stop contamination at the nuclear WMD training site (T1)

“Preserve Wildlife” sign at one of the most nuked places on the planet

The Sedan crater was created on July 6, 1962, when a 104-kiloton nuclear device was detonated underground at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The resulting crater is nearly 400m wide and 100m deep. The explosion created a cavity that the surface soil collapsed into. The Sedan crater was not the result of a weapons test but a test of the potential peaceful use of nuclear explosions. The idea was that they could be used in constructing canals, harbours, quarries, or other projects requiring excavation.

Cafeteria building at Mercury, the closed town built to house the staff of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS).

Structures to test impact of atomic weapons int he 1950s

Nuclear shelter placed in the desert to see how it will stand up to an atomic blast. This shelter was subjected to the 37 kiloton Priscilla test in 1957.

Structure to test impact of atomic weapons in the 1950s

Tail of a B-53 9 megaton Thermonuclear Weapon. A high-yield bunker buster weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War. This weapon was designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and was produced from 1961 to 1965.Over 350 B-53s were built in total, but many were decommissioned by 1987. Only 50 bombs remained in service until October 25, 2011 when the last one was disassembled. This is one of the casings of those disassembled weapons.

The "Fat Man" nuclear bomb, which was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9th 1945. This is an actual Fat Man ballistics case that was manufactured cirka 1945, on display at the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas.

Inside an "Apple-2" house used in atomic bomb test on May 5, 1955