Today in History: Nevada is site of first-ever underground nuclear explosion
On this day in 1957, the first underground nuclear test was carried out at the Nevada Test Site, a 1,375 square-mile research center located 65 miles away from Las Vegas. The 1,7 kiloton nuclear ordeal was placed in an underground tunnel and the detonation was fully contained, with no radioactive fallout. The weapon weighed 218 pounds and it was one of 29 tests carried out to research on weapons safety that year.
RELATED: Here is the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The very first time the U.S. built a nuclear weapon was in December 1941, and the first regular nuclear test took place on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico. Only a few weeks later, President Truman authorized dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing Japan to surrender to the Allied Powers, as well as taking an enormous amount of casualties.
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