Nevada Test Site

Click on the map to see information about that area NTS Area Map - Where is: Central Nevada Test Area & Project Shoal site ? Area 13 ? Area 21 ? Area 24 ? Area 28 ? Area 51 ?

Area 20 — This area, within the Nuclear Test Zone, occupies 388 km2 (150 mi2) in the northwest corner of the NTS.

Area 20 in the northwest corner of the test site was originally developed as a suitable location for higher yield underground nuclear test (over several hundred kilotons). No atmospheric nuclear tests were conducted in Area 19. However, fallout from the Schooner test (part of the Plowshare cratering tests) was deposited off-site on the surface toward the northwest and is detectable.

From the mid-1960s through 1992, a total of 49 underground nuclear tests were conducted.

Specifically, this Pahute Mesa areas was incorporated into the boundaries of the NTS in late 1963 under an agreement between the Atomic Energy Commission and the U.S. Air Force. Area 19 was used for high yield tests which no longer would be permissible under the terms of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty. Both areas have the same rugged terrain features and harsh winter-season conditions that made year-round operations difficult.

The geology of Pahute Mesa makes it possible to test devices at much greater depths than in Yucca Flat (down to more than 13,700 meters (4500 feet)). The greater depth and isolation allowed the much higher yield tests, with minimal levels of ground motion being felt in Las Vegas, over 160 kilometers (100 miles) away. Tests in the megaton and greater range included the Boxcar, Benham, and Handley events. In addition to the DOE weapons development tests, a DOD nuclear test detection experiment and several Plowshare tests have been conducted on Pahute Mesa.

The Plowshare tests included several nuclear cratering experiments (Palanquin, Cabriolet, and Schooner).

Schooner, detonated in late 1968, was designed to specifically study the effects and phenomenology of cratering with a nuclear explosive in hard rock. The depth of burial was 110 meters (350 feet) and the yield was 41 kilotons; the result was a crater 260 meters (850 feet) in diameter and 63 meters (210 feet) deep.

NASA's Apollo astronauts use Test Site craters to prepare for Moon surface.

Because the "Schooner" and "Sedan" craters at the Nevada Test Site had features similar to the topography of Moon craters, astronauts used them to train for their missions.

Astronauts for Apollo 14 exercised at Schooner crater, and visited Sedan crater in November 1970. Apollo 16 astronauts visited the Schooner crater in November 1970, and exercised there in October 971.

Apollo 17 astronauts conducted exercises at Schooner and on Buckboard Mesa in August 1972.

Total number of Nuclear Tests 49 and Detonations 49 as having occured in Area 20, according to United States Nuclear Tests July 1945 through September 1992 DOE/NV--209-REV 15 December 2000 which may view here, but the document only lists the following tests as having occured in Area 20, other are tests are listed by hole or shaft number and am still working on updating this list.