[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 19 (Tuesday, February 8, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEVADA TEST SITE

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                          HON. SHELLEY BERKLEY

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 8, 2011

  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, today I urge my colleagues to join me in 
recognizing the 60th anniversary of the Nevada Test Site on January 27, 
2011, and the contributions of the thousands of men and women who 
served there throughout the Cold War. I deeply appreciate their 
dedication to their work and their unwavering patriotism. These test 
site workers are outstanding Americans and I thank them for being 
outstanding members of the southern Nevada community.
  In 1950, President Harry Truman approved the recommendations of the 
Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Defense to establish a 
continental site for atomic bomb experiments. After consideration of 
possible sites throughout the United States, it was decided that the 
5000 square mile Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range would be used for 
America's atomic weapons development program.
  Shortly after midnight on January 27, 1951, personnel from the Los 
Alamos Scientific Laboratory delivered a ``nuclear capsule'' to a 
heavily guarded Air Force B-50D sitting on a taxi strip at Kirtland Air 
Force Base outside Albuquerque. The B-50D lifted off from the runway 
and headed west through the darkness toward Frenchman Flat, a remote 
desert valley located on the new Nevada Test Site, sixty-five miles 
northwest of Las Vegas.
  Shortly after 3:00 a.m., the go-ahead was issued for the test, code 
named Able. At 5:45 a.m., the device exploded as planned at a height of 
1,060 feet The Atomic Energy Commission swiftly moved to turn the 
Nevada Test site into a permanent proving ground for nuclear weapons.
  For over four decades, the Nevada Test Site served as the nation's 
principal proving ground for nuclear weapons. Almost 90 percent of the 
1,052 tests since 1945 were conducted at the Nevada Test Site. During 
the 1950s, atmospheric testing provided for some spectacular visual 
performances, but also sent radioactive clouds beyond the test site 
boundaries and over inhabited areas. Concern regarding radioactive 
fallout spurred international test ban negotiations that culminated in 
the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963. The test ban treaty banned 
atmospheric testing, replacing it with underground testing.
  The Nevada Test Site played a major role in winning the Cold War. 
Nuclear weapons capabilities and their testing shaped the manner in 
which the Cold War was fought. Many have argued that it was the 
determining factor in keeping the struggle from becoming an all-out hot 
war.
  The Nevada Test Site resembles an actual battleground. Hundreds of 
saucer-like craters, formed by the subsidence of the ground above an 
underground test shot, pock the test site, creating an almost moon-like 
landscape. Although massive amounts of high-level radioactivity were 
locked into the earth in the contained blasts, plutonium and other 
radioactive substances are still detectable above ground. This is the 
legacy of Cold War combat.
  As the Representative for Nevada's First Congressional District, it 
is my great honor to recognize the 60th anniversary of the Nevada Test 
Site and commend all the men and women who contributed to the security 
of our Nation through their expertise, service, sacrifice and duty to 
country.

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