DOE/MA-0518 Origins of the Nevada Test Site

DOE/MA-0518

Origins of the Nevada Test Site

United States Department of Energy

Terrence R. Fehner F. G. Gosling

History Division Executive Secretariat Management and Administration Department of Energy

December 2000

Acknowledgments

Origins of the Nevada Test Site was written in conjunction with the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Nevada Test Site. The history was released at the official celebration held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 18, 2000, fifty years after President Harry S. Truman formally designated the site as the location for conducting nuclear weapons tests within the continental United States. The history represents a unique partnership between a field office and two headquarters offices of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Department's Nevada Operations Office provided the initial impetus for the project and offered support and resources throughout the researching and writing of the history. The Office of Defense Programs of the Department's National Nuclear Security Administration provided funding for printing the history. The History Division of the Department's Executive Secretariat researched and wrote the history. Terrence R. Fehner is a senior historian working in the History Division. F.G. Gosling is the Department's Chief Historian and Federal Preservation Officer. The authors wish to thank the many individuals who offered comments, support, and assistance. They made this work possible and helped make it a better and more complete history. Retta Helling of the Nevada Operations Office and Jim Landers of the Office of Defense Programs served as the primary points of contact for their respective offices. Troy Wade, former assistant secretary for defense programs, provided the original inspiration for the project and tireless support throughout. Martha DeMarre at the Department's Coordination and Information Center in Las Vegas and her staff, especially Kristie Abromowitz and Carole Schoengold, provided the authors with hundreds of unpublished documents, reports, and photographs that became the core research material used in this study. They also reviewed the manuscript and offered sound advice on further avenues of research. Others who assisted the authors in obtaining research materials and photographs include Carolyn McKown, Bruce Harwood, Robert Perkins, Hannah King, and Rory Patterson at the U.S. Department of Energy, Germantown, library; Robert Brewer and Roger Meade at the Los Alamos National Laboratory; Eric Moody and Lee Brumbaugh at the Nevada Historical Society; Kathy War and Su Kim Chung at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, library; Richard Reed at the Remote Sensing Laboratory; Gary Roush at History Associates Incorporated; Colleen Beck and Robert Jones at the Desert Research Institute; Cate Wilman and Timothy Parish at Nellis Air Force Base; Carolyn Cole at the Los Angeles Central Public Library; Gloria Parker at the U.S. Department of State; Lisa Coats at the Institute for Advanced Study in

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Princeton; Herman Wolk and David Chenoweth at the Air Force History and Museums Program; Mickey Russell at the Air Force Historical Research Agency; Charlotte Heatherly at the University of Nevada Press; Sharon Theobald at Kirtland Air Force Base; Pauline Testerman at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library; Elvis Brathwaite at AP Wide World Photos; Kathy Hopkins at TimePix; Remy Squires at the Hoover Institution. David Myrick and Alvin McLane gave the authors permission to use photographs from their personal collections. Frank Porcheddu of the Department's graphics office labored long and hard to turn the manuscript into a printable document. He was ably assisted by Gloria Hill. Betsy Scroger edited the manuscript and prepared the two montages of newspaper headlines that appear in the text. Cliff Scroger assisted the authors in many areas of research. Marie Hallion headed the effort to collect photographs, and without her determination to leave no stone unturned the history would be quite different in appearance. Finally, the authors would like to thank Jim Solit, director of the Executive Secretariat, for his constant and unwavering support of the History Division and its staff.

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Table of Contents

Dropping the Bomb: The Able Shot ..........................................1

Part I: The Nevada Test Site: Description and Early History ....................................................................................5

The Nevada Test Site: What and Where ....................................................5 Pre?History and Native Americans..............................................................6 Explorers and Forty?Niners ........................................................................7 Mining and Grazing......................................................................................8 Boom and Bust Towns ................................................................................10 Wahmonie ....................................................................................................14 Las Vegas ......................................................................................................17 The Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range............................................20

Part II: The Birth of the Nuclear Age, 1919?1947 ..............23

Neutrons, Fission, and Chain Reactions ....................................................23 Albert Einstein and the Atomic Bomb ........................................................24 The Manhattan Project ................................................................................26 Bomb Design ................................................................................................29 The Trinity Test ............................................................................................30 War's End ......................................................................................................32 Crossroads ....................................................................................................32 Postwar Control of the Atom and the Onset of the Cold War..................34

Part III: The Search for a Continental Test Site, 1947?1950 ..................................................37

Sandstone ......................................................................................................37 Continental Test Site Reconsidered ............................................................39 Project Nutmeg ............................................................................................40 The Cold War Heats Up ..............................................................................42 Renewed Search for a Continental Test Site ..............................................43 Fallout and the Continental Test Site ..........................................................44 President Truman Hesitates and the Joint Chiefs Decide on Enewetak ..46 President Truman Decides on a Continental Test Site ..............................47

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Part IV: Preparing to Test, December 1950?January 1951 ........................................................49

The Need for an Immediate Testing Series ................................................49 Negotiating with the Air Force on Use of the Test Site ............................50 Taking Possession and Initiating Construction Activities ..........................51 Public Information........................................................................................52 Formal Approval Sought, Debated, and Received ....................................53 Going Public ................................................................................................55 Public and Press Reaction............................................................................56

Part V: The Ranger Series, January--February 1951 ......61

The Test Site Takes Shape for Ranger ........................................................61 Logistics ........................................................................................................65 Official Visitors ............................................................................................67 Radiological Safety ......................................................................................68 On the Eve of Able ......................................................................................69 Able's Aftermath ..........................................................................................70 Baker Is Bigger ............................................................................................72 Easy and Baker?Two ..................................................................................75 Fox: The Grand Finale ................................................................................75 Roll?Up and Assessment..............................................................................78

Part VI: Legacy of the Nevada Test Site, 1951-- ..................81

Permanentization of the Test Site................................................................81 Atoms for War and Peace ............................................................................82 Battleground of the Cold War ....................................................................86

Endnotes........................................................................................................89

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