On May 5, 1995 a 29-kiloton device named Apple 2 was detonated from a 500-foot tower on Yucca Flat at the Nevada test site, now known as the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Last month, we were invited to visit the site to showcase our drone fleet and training services. Given that NNSS is an enormous 1360 square-mile outdoor, indoor and underground facility performing experiments that support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s defense and security programs, it was an honor to have our equipment preferred and in operations there.
Site History
The Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) constructed a typical American community complete with two double-story and three single-story houses, and electrical transformer station, radio station, a proper tank filing station, a weigh station, and other small buildings. The houses were furnished with clothed mannequins placed inside. Several American-made automobiles and trailer homes, also with mannequins, were positioned at various distances and angles from ground zero to measure the effects of the nuclear test.
The houses were constructed of different building materials with varied exteriors and were heavily instrumental to measure the blast and over pressures from the nuclear detonation. Finally, canned food products were placed in the homes and in outside trenches. The day before the test, frozen food was flown in from Chicago and placed in kitchens.
The two-story homes were subjected to a pressure of about 1.7 pounds per square inch during the blast. The wooden frame house is approximately 6,600 feet from ground zero. Remnants of the steel anchors that held the 500 foot steel tower can still be seen at the ground zero site.
Future Partnership
A huge thank you to all those at NNSS for your hospitality and education. Hitec Drone Services will continue to provide situational training, and the flight proficiency certification requirement needs for NNSS’s continuing certification and in-service training requirements.
