'OPERATION RANGER', NUCLEAR TESTING AT NEVADA

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She has decided to read a little about Operation Ranger, the American nuclear test series that started at the Nevada Test Site on a day like today in 1951.

Operation Ranger was the fourth American nuclear test series. It was conducted in 1951 and was the first series to be carried out at the Nevada Test Site. All the bombs were dropped by B-50D bombers and exploded in the open air over Frenchman Flat (Area 5).

These tests centred on the practicality of developing a second generation of nuclear weapons using smaller amounts of valuable nuclear materials. They were planned under the name Operation Faust. The exact locations of the tests are unknown, as they were all air drops. However, the planned ground zero was set at 36°49'32''N 115°57'54''W for all except the Fox shot, which was 500 feet west and 300 feet south in order to minimize damage to the control point.

The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until August 23, 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DoE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 105 km northwest of the city of Las Vegas.

Formerly known as the Nevada Proving Grounds, the site was established on January 11, 1951 for the testing of nuclear devices, covering approximately 3,500 km2 of desert and mountainous terrain.

Nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a 1-kiloton-of-TNT bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on January 27, 1951.

Over the subsequent four decades, over one thousand nuclear explosions were detonated at the NTS. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from the NTS. NNSS is operated by Mission Support and Test Services, LLC.

More information: Atomic Heritage Foundation

During the 1950s, the mushroom clouds, from the 100 atmospheric tests, could be seen from almost 160 km away. The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the mushroom clouds, which could be seen from the downtown hotels, became tourist attractions. St. George, Utah received the brunt of the fallout from above-ground nuclear testing in the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site.

Westerly winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through St. George and southern Utah. Marked increases in cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s through 1980. A further 921 nuclear tests were carried out underground.

From 1986 through 1994, two years after the United States put a hold on full-scale nuclear weapons testing, 536 anti-nuclear protests were held at the Nevada Test Site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records.

The Nevada Test Site contains 28 areas, 1,100 buildings, 640 km of paved roads, 300 miles of unpaved roads, 10 heliports, and two airstrips.

Currently, the Mission Support and Test Services (MSTS), the successor of the NSTech, is the civilian contractor for the test site's management and further oversees the overall operations of the test site.

The MSTS manages and operates the Nevada Test Site for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) while The Security Protective Force (SPF) is responsible for providing the safeguards and security to the NNSS.

The Nevada Test Site was established as a 1,800 km2 area by President Harry S. Truman on December 18, 1950, within the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range.

More information: DTRA

 I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, which is my hometown.
In Los Alamos is, for people who don't know,
a nuclear lab that built the atomic bomb.
The only reason the town exists is to make nuclear weapons
and weapons of mass destruction, and that's still happening there.

Drew Goddard