Project 57

Project 57 was an open-air nuclear test conducted by the United States at the Nellis Air Force Range in 1957.^[1][2] The test area, also known as Area 13, was a 10 miles (16 km) by 16 miles (26 km) block of land abutting the northeast boundary of the Nevada National Security Site.^[3]

Project 57 was a one-point safety-test. The high explosives of a nuclear weapon were detonated asymmetrically to simulate an accidental detonation. The purpose of the test was to verify that no yield would result as well as study the extent of plutonium contamination.^[2]

The contaminated area was initially fenced off and the contaminated equipment buried in place. In 1981, the U.S. Department of Energy decontaminated and decommissioned the site. Hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of soil and debris were removed from Area 13 and disposed of in a waste facility at the Nevada Test Site.^[3]

See also

• Project 56
• Operation Roller Coaster

References

1. ^ U.S. Department of Energy / Nevada Operations Office, United States Nuclear Tests - July 1945 through September 1992, December 2000, DOE/NV-209 Rev 15
2. ^ ^{a b} "Projects 57, 58, and 58A". The Nuclear Weapon Archive. http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Proj57-58.html. 
3. ^ ^{a b} National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office, Plutonium Dispersal Tests at the Nevada Test Site, April 2010, DOE/NV-1046

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of Energy.