The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2), previously the Nevada Test Site (NTS), is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 mi (105 km) northwest of the city of Las Vegas. Formerly known as the Nevada Proving Grounds, the site, established on 11 January 1951, for the testing of nuclear devices, is composed of approximately 1,360 sq mi (3,500 km2) of desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a 1-kilotonne-of-TNT (4.2 TJ) bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on 27 January 1951. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from NTS.
The Nevada Test Site contains 28 areas, 1,100 buildings, 400 miles (640 km) of paved roads, 300 miles (480 km) of unpaved roads, ten heliports and two airstrips. The most recent test was a sub-critical test of the properties of plutonium, conducted underground on December 7, 2012.
Read more about Nevada Test Site: History, Destruction and Survivability Testing, Environmental Impact, Protests and Demonstrations, NTS Today, Landmarks and Geography, Cancer and Test Site, Nuclear Test Series Carried Out At The Nevada Test Site, Areas, See Also
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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