Tonopah Test Range
The Nevada Test Site is located approximately 104 kilometers (65 miles) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada in a sparsely populated region about the size of the State of Rhode Island. The Tonopah Test Range is approximately 240 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Las Vegas. The site encompasses 3,510 kilometers (1,350 square miles) of desert and mountainous terrain, and is surrounded on three sides by the Nellis Air
Force Range, which provides a substantial buffer between the site and public lands.
The Test Range Area is a research facility with the mission to test the mechanical operation and delivery systems for nuclear ordnance and other defense-related projects. The site was used to test ordnance delivery systems employing mock-ups of nuclear weapons, and tests with conventional explosives. The site is still actively used by Sandia National Laboratories and the U.S. Air Force. Past operations at the site have resulted in the contamination of soils, and possibly the ground water with radioactive and hazardous materials.
