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 12 — This area, within the Nuclear or High Explosive Test Zone, occupies 104 km2 (40 mi2) at the northern boundary of the NTS known as Rainier Mesa.

Just Reveled In a nondescript mustard-colored building that was once a military recreation hall and barbershop, the Pentagon has built a biological warfare factory that could make enough lethal microbes to wipe out entire cities.
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No atmospheric tests were conducted at this location.

Rainier Mesa was the site of the nation's first fully contained underground nuclear detonation named the Rainier event, detonated on September 19, 1957, in a horizontal tunnel, about 47 meters (1600 feet) into the mesa and 274 meters (900 feet) beneath the top of the mesa. Of the 61 underground nuclear tests carried out in Area 12 between late 1957 and the fall of 1992, only 2 were detonated in drilled holes, whereas all of the 59 others, were detonated in mined tunnels.

Today, there are a number of tunnels mined into Rainier Mesa, within which most DoD horizontal line-of-sight exposure experiments were conducted. In particular, N-, P-, and T-Tunnel complexes were extensively developed during the past several decades.The tunnel experiments usually involve complex construction or large-diameter (up to 9 meters) line-of-sight pipes and special closure mechanisms, blast and gas seal testing purposes, but since 1971, it has been used only as an underground research facility.

N-Tunnel was also the location for a non-proliferation experiment, detonated in September 1993; this experiment involved 1,300,000 kilograms (2,900,000 pounds) of conventional high explosives. detonated on September 22, 1993. Observers from the United Nations' Geneva Conference on Disarmament were present. The acquired test information and data are being used to develop verification requirements to support both Nonproliferation Treaty-related activities and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

The DOD currently operates a high-explosives research and development tunnel in Area 12. This reusable test bed supports programs involving the detonation of conventional or prototype explosives and munitions.

The Area 12 camp was used to support operations in the northern region of the NTS. The camp status is currently unknown The

Area 12 base camp was used in the past to support operations in the northern reaches of the test site. In addition to housing and feeding facilities, other residual support structures include a major maintenance building, various craft and repair shops, a first aid facility, and a supply depot.

But In a nondescript mustard-colored building that was once a military recreation hall and barbershop, the Pentagon has built a biological warfare factory that could make enough lethal microbes to wipe out entire cities. Project Bachus was, set up inside an abandoned government building. U.S. officials say they built it to better understand how to detect similar operations in places like Iraq or Afghanistan or even by terrorists here at home.

The factory, built by the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, has been brought to full production for several weeks on two occasions — in 1999 and again in 2000. Technicians grew several pounds of a harmless(?) bacterium with characteristics similar to deadly anthrax.

The project was conducted in such extreme secrecy that some worry it might be misunderstood and seen as a violation of the international treaty that bans making germ weapons.

Also see: US biological warfare plant revealed

Total number of Nuclear Tests 61 and Detonations 62 as having occured in Area 12, 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 12, other are tests are listed by hole or shaft number and am still working on updating this list.