About the Nevada Test Site

The Nevada Test Site, located in southern Nevada, sixty-five miles Northwest of Las Vegas, was the primary location for nuclear weapons testing in the continental U.S. from 1951 until the present nuclear testing moratorium began in September, 1992. A total of 928 tests were conducted at the NTS, including 100 atmospheric tests between 1951 and 1958. In October of 1958, the first moratorium on nuclear testing was agreed upon by the United States and the Soviet Union. Both the Soviet Union and the United States resumed testing in September of 1961. After 1961, almost all tests took place in shafts, drillholes, and underground tunnels mined, drilled and constructed for this purpose. The Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 banned all atmospheric tests.