Nevada Test Site History

The United States conducted 210 above-ground nuclear weapons tests between July 1945 and November 1962. The Nevada Test Site (NTS), a 1350 square-mile area about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas accounted for 100 of those tests. The first above-ground test took place at NTS on January 27, 1951 and the last test was on July 17, 1962. Many of the tests released substantial amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere and the fallout reached the ground as nuclear fallout. People exposed to radiation from the nuclear-weapons testing program later became concerned that radiation exposure had adversely affected their health.

Nevada Test Site Link: www.nv.doe.gov/nts/default.htm