Between 1951 and 1992 the United States conducted more than 1000 nuclear tests above and underneath the barren ground of southern Nevada. The Nuclear Test Site, a 1350-square mile plot of land located northwest of Las Vegas, employed upwards of 125,000 during the Cold War. Nuclear testing ceased there in 1992 with the implementation of a nuclear testing moratorium.
The operations at that Nevada Test Site facility are the subject of the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Nevada Test Site Oral History Project. That initiative contains a collection of interviews with military personnel, scientists, laborers and protestors associated with the test site. The project was awarded the 2010 Public History Project Award from the National Council on Public History.
Other repositories of primary source materials related to the Nevada Test site include the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and Los Alamos Laboratories. The environmental agency’s holdings include photographs of the test site, environment impact statements pertaining to the contamination resulting from the tests and National Cancer Institute studies on the health impacts of the tests on those living in surrounding areas. Los Alamos’ materials include photographs and additional historical material about the testing.
The image above left shows the Stokes test. Conducted in August, 1957, that explosion was detonated from a balloon. The image at right shows the Sedan crater which was created by the underground explosion of a 100 kiloton nuclear device in July, 1962. The resultant crater is 320 feet deep in 1280 feet in diameter. Both images come from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.
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