Message posted by Peter Merlin on July 15, 2019 at 6:05:31 PST:
I took several NTS tours covering most of the various test areas. We stopped in numerous locations and got to walk around the blasted structures on Frenchman Flat, the observers benches, the ICECAP emplacement tower, down into BILBY crater, up onto the rim of SEDAN crater, the NERVA nuclear rocket facilities, the Rock Valley Study Area, and inside the APPLE II houses (where, one time, we ate lunch). I also toured the Yucca Mountain tunnel, a crash site memorial near Little Skull Mountain, and some archaeological sites near Rainier Mesa (which is where I had my first actual view of Groom Lake). On most of these trips, we were allowed to bring cameras. I also had a high-quality Geiger counter capable of measuring alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. Generally speaking, radiation levels were not noticeably measurable above the natural background radiation. The only significant readings I found were on the rim of SEDAN crater once we got away from the viewing platform. These were still much lower readings than I obtained at TRINITY Site in New Mexico. We were told that there were hotter sites, such as SMOKY ground zero, which apparently still has a significant amount of debris from the metal tower as well as melted sand. I was offered a tour of Area 11 (Plutonium Valley) that would have required a positive-pressure anti-contamination suit but I turned it down. My only regret is never being able to climb to the top of the BREN tower. That would have been fun.
In Reply to: Re: OT Possible Accient or Explosion. posted by Gregos on July 14, 2019 at 11:36:33 PST:
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