The Nevada National Security Site in Nevada, approximately 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is about 1,300 square miles in size (larger than the state of Rhode Island) and is the only site in the United States currently available for conducting nuclear weapons tests.
October 30, 2025
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descriptive
Geographic and operational status of U.S. nuclear test infrastructure.
The Nevada Test Site was the primary location for United States nuclear testing from 1951 to 1992 and is now known as the Nevada National Security Site.
January 01, 1951
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temporal
Historic principal test venue for U.S. nuclear explosive tests and its current institutional name.
Subcritical nuclear tests are non-explosive experiments that involve fissile materials but do not produce a sustained nuclear chain reaction; such tests are used to validate computer models of aging warheads and have been conducted at the Nevada National Security Site to verify performance without explosive testing.
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technical
Technical description and purpose of subcritical nuclear tests.