Nevada thumbnail|Downwind exposure produced by Nevada Test Site. This map strongly suggests that there are some state-specific differences in reporting. From 1951 – mid-1962 , the Nevada Test Site (NTS) was a primary site used for both surface and above-ground nuclear testing, with 86 tests at or above ground level, and 14 other tests underground, all of which involved releases of significant amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere.   The threat of downwind exposure to radioactivity remaining at the Nevada Test Site from nuclear weapons tests was still an issue as late as 2007. The Pentagon planned to test a 700-ton ammonium nitrate-and-fuel oil "bunker buster" weapon. The planned "Divine Strake" test would have raised a large mushroom cloud of contaminated dust that could have blown toward population centers such as Las Vegas, Boise, Salt Lake City, and St. George, Utah. This project was cancelled in February 2007, in large part due to political pressure inspired by the threat of downwind exposure to radioactivity.
Nevada thumbnail|Downwind exposure produced by Nevada Test Site. This map strongly suggests that there are some state-specific differences in reporting. From 1951 – 1962 , the Nevada Test Site (NTS) was a primary site used for both surface and above-ground nuclear testing, with 100 tests at or above ground level, all of which involved releases of significant amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Atmospheric testing was halted in 1958 after a testing moratorium was agreed upon with the Soviet Union. The Soviets broke the agreement in 1961, and both sides resumed testing. Two American test series followed: Operation Nougat, and then Operation Storax. The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty went into effect in 1963, banning all above ground testing. Further tests were underground, which with the exception of a few test failures, did not release fallout.U.S. Department of Energy / Nevada Operations Office, United States Nuclear Tests - July 1945 through September 1992, December 2000, DOE/NV-209 Rev 15 alt=Graph|Just ten tests out of over a thousand total tests at the Nevada Test Site contributed almost 50\% of all exposure. The threat of downwind exposure to radioactivity remaining at the Nevada Test Site from nuclear weapons tests was still an issue as late as 2007. The Pentagon planned to test a 700-ton ammonium nitrate-and-fuel oil "bunker buster" weapon. The planned "Divine Strake" test would have raised a large mushroom cloud of contaminated dust that could have blown toward population centers such as Las Vegas, Boise, Salt Lake City, and St. George, Utah. This project was cancelled in February 2007, in large part due to political pressure inspired by the threat of downwind exposure to radioactivity.
R
mid-1962
1962
R
86
100
D
and 14 other tests underground,
A
Atmospheric testing was halted in 1958 after a testing moratorium was agreed upon with the Soviet Union. The Soviets broke the agreement in 1961, and both sides resumed testing. Two American test series followed: Operation Nougat, and then Operation Storax. The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty went into effect in 1963, banning all above ground testing. Further tests were underground, which with the exception of a few test failures, did not release fallout.U.S. Department of Energy / Nevada Operations Office, United States Nuclear Tests - July 1945 through September 1992, December 2000, DOE/NV-209 Rev 15
A
alt=Graph|Just ten tests out of over a thousand total tests at the Nevada Test Site contributed almost 50\% of all exposure.