The Nevada Test Site in southeastern Nye County, created in December 1950 northwest of Las Vegas, became the principal mainland proving ground for the American atomic program. From 1951 to 1992, 928 announced nuclear tests were conducted there, most underground, leaving craters and scarred basins across the landscape. Its atmospheric blasts, including clouds visible from Las Vegas, briefly entered the city’s tourist imagery, while fallout was later linked to increased cancer rates in Utah and elsewhere. The reservation also hosted blast-effect experiments and became a major site of anti-nuclear protest, and it remains active today for weapons-related research, training, and waste management.