Definitive Historical Record of U.S. Nuclear Testing Updated

The National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office, in collaboration with the three national weapons laboratories and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, has updated the most “definitive” record on the conduct of U.S. nuclear weapons tests, according to NNSA’s Nevada Field Office announced yesterday. Updates to “United States Nuclear Tests—July 1945 through September 1992,” include added data for heights of bursts for all aboveground test detonations and depths of burials for all underground test detonations, added location coordinates to comprise all atmospheric tests, clarification of radionuclide release information, and a name change from the Nevada Test Site to the Nevada National Security Site. Data were obtained from sources including Nevada Field Office test records, DTRA, and Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories. This was the first update since December 2000.

The document, whose common name and tracking number is NV-209, benefited from the contributions of personnel who participated in the tests, some of whom are retired and some who currently consult with the Energy Department, NNSA, and NNSA contractors, according to a Nevada Field Office press release. The U.S. performed 1,054 nuclear tests in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and 11 locations in the U.S., the last one of which was conducted on Sept. 23, 1992.