Atomic Testing Museum Las Vegas, Nevada February 9. 2013

 

                                      Timeline highlighting important events in the 50s

Location: The Atomic Testing Museum is located on East Flamingo Road at the Desert Research Institute (DRI). To get to the DRI turn off of Las Vegas Blvd near Tropicana Casino.

General Information: Admission is $14 for the museum and $6 more for the special Area 51 Exhibit. Military and Nevada residents get in for $11.This museum has alot of great information. To see everything I would allocate at least 2-3 hours at the location.

 Exhibits chronicle the develoment  and testing of the Atomic bomb in the United States and throughout the world. In the first part of the museum displays give information about the Cold War and the need to respond to the nuclear threat presented by the USSR. It continues with the development and detonation of the Atomic bomb in New Mexico code named Trinity. After the Trinity Test, the United States Government tested bombs in the Pacific at Bikini Atoll. The rest of the museum gives information on the development of the Nevada Test Site and the approximately 900 above and below ground tests conducted primarily at Yucca Flat and Frenchman Flat. The Area 51 special exhibit has some good information but I do not think it is worth the $6 admission. Museum curators spent way too much information on the UFO conspiracy in New Mexico as well as Groom Lake. (Some information from the Atomic Testing Website). In a later post I will give a comprehensive history of the Nevada Test Site.

                              Craters from underground test at Yucca Flat

                      Diagram showing an underground test in a mine at the Nevada Test Site

                     America's largest underground test was not in Nevada but in Alaska 

                                  Map showing nuclear detonations at the Nevada Test Site

                       Information on the different levels of nuclear waste; Yucca Flat has become a respository for low level waste

                                  Badge used at the Nevada Test Site

                                              Geiger instruments used to monitor radiation 

             An istrument used to take pictures and record scientfic information during an underground   detonation