Where the most explosive nuclear bombs on the planet

Nearly a thousand nuclear tests were conducted at a facility in Nevada, USA, leaving an obsession for witnesses at close range and people in nearby areas.

Where to try the most nuclear bomb on the planet

According to Guardian, the US once conducted a nuclear test in the Pacific, in an area with a charismatic name, Bikini Atoll , about 7,400km from mainland America and more than 3,800 km from Hawaii. However, when these trials became too costly, the Washington government in 1950 began searching for a safe location to test nuclear right on American soil.

And a desert area of ​​3,500 square kilometers, in Nye County, about 105 kilometers northwest of Las Vegas, was chosen to become the Nevada Test Site (Nevada Test Site), now known as the National Security Facility. Nevada .

Nevada Test Facility.(Photo: Wiki).

The facility was established in 1951, several years after World War II ended, stemming from fears that the Soviet Union would attack the nuclear. During the Cold War, the US needed a convenient place to design and build nuclear arsenal.

Since 1951, and during the following four decades, the US government has conducted nearly 1,000 nuclear tests here, making it the nickname "the most bombed land in the world". This is where America honed, increasing the destructive power of the rudimentary nuclear weapons they dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

About 100 tests were carried out on the ground, creating characteristic mushroom clouds, which have become symbols of nuclear bomb explosions.

To date, the US government has been conducting secret work in this place. Only a small group of tourists, closely inspected, can visit this place. They are not allowed to film, take photos or pick up stones here as a souvenir.

Every nuclear test here is carefully planned. Scientists and engineers want to understand and clearly identify the characteristics of the bombs according to different designs, for each type of military weapon required.

In a pamphlet, published in 1955, about the impact of atomic bomb testing at the Nevada Test Facility, the US Atomic Energy Commission reassured the surrounding residents that the level of radiation is here. " A little higher than the usual level you encounter every day, at any residence ".

The US government was very worried about the risk of suffering a direct nuclear attack. And to help people get ready to respond, some tests are conducted to see how big explosions will affect people and homes in the explosive range.

Town Survive

In 1955, within the framework of Teapot campaign, the Federal Civil Defense Agency conducted the Apple-2 test, designed to test whether different buildings, at different distances, would be stars in a nuclear explosion. Many houses and voltage stations were erected near the center of the explosion. This area is nicknamed Survival Town.

Mannequins simulating families are put into houses. Daily living items and a variety of canned and packaged foods are also brought.

At that time, the Federal Civil Defense Agency produced educational videos to guide Americans on measures to be taken at home, in the case of an atomic attack.

Location of nuclear testing facility.(Graphic: The Guardian).

Close

Between 1951 and 1957, the US military carried out a series of drills called Desert Rock , to train soldiers and increase understanding of military operations on the nuclear battlefield. Trainings include tactical and experimental flight attempts to determine the destructive power of nuclear weapons.

American soldiers witnessed tests at close range. Officers wanted to know how the soldiers responded when there were huge explosions on the battlefield. They had to hide in trenches several kilometers away from where the explosion occurred.

"I feel like the world comes to the end of the world" , Lamond, Davis, veteran who witnessed the test at close range recounts. "I can see the mushroom cloud just above my head. I still remember both ears and two nostrils bleeding. Everyone is terrified. Not just me, all feel the same." .

"After the test, someone will use a broom to brush dust on us, because we are covered with radioactive material. They know these substances are toxic, so they want to reduce the consequences to the lowest extent possible , " he said. more.

"Downwind"

But it's not just scientists and military who care about mushroom clouds in the Nevada desert. In 1952, when cameras were allowed to enter the facility to report an explosion directly, nuclear tests created a "fever" in the public.

Las Vegas, about 100km away, became the destination of many travelers from all over the United States. They came here to see nuclear explosions before dawn from the hotel rooftop or in the car. Many firms also took advantage of this opportunity to create follow-up ads.

Famous photo in Life magazine recorded a mushroom cloud in the sky of Las Vegas.(Photo: Life).

However, not everyone is interested in nuclear explosions. In nearby cities like St. George, Utah, swims down the wind from the Nevada Test Facility, where locals find the program to be troublesome.

After decades of struggle of the group known as "people who wind down" , the US Congress in 1990 passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, to pay complainants that they were affected by radiation from nuclear tests in Nevada.

Claudia Peterson, a resident of St. George, saying: "When I was a child, in the season of sheep's fertility, I used to think that it was normal to have two heads of sheep, or without legs, or dead sheep."

"Many people start getting sick and sick. I have a few classmates who died of white blood disease and cancer , " she added. Claudia believed that radiation had haunted her family many years later. Her three-year-old daughter and sister died from cancer.

To date, two billion dollars have been spent to compensate 32,000 complainants. The amount of compensation is only spent on a few with a certain range of conditions.

Nuclear tests on the ground were then stopped. The US no longer conducts nuclear weapons testing at this location, however, there are still other tests to test the capabilities of the old nuclear arsenal.

For many Americans, the Nevada Test Facility is a unique and historically important place for national security. They considered it the battlefield that the US fought and won the Cold War.

"A lot of the freedom we enjoy today is thanks to us as a country with nuclear weapons," said Chuck Costa, a veteran at the facility.

Nuclear devices tested here have permanently changed humanity. The most modern nuclear weapons, born from this desert, have devastated thousands of times the device dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The danger of the technologies tested in Nevada is clear to all parties. But the people who worked here felt they were involved in an inevitable task, from the threat of the Soviet Union. The legacy of this place will always be controversial.

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