The
Nevada National Security Site (
NNSS), previously the
Nevada Test Site (
NTS), is a
United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern
Nye County,
Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the city of
Las Vegas. Formerly known as the
Nevada Proving Grounds, the site was established on 11 January 1951 for the testing of
nuclear devices, covering approximately of desert and mountainous terrain.
Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a bomb dropped on
Frenchman Flat on 27 January 1951. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from the NTS.