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Comment by nickpinkston | Hacker News Reader

I just think it's interesting how mch territory has been used as a test facility for nukes. Russia seems like a nuclear wasteland, and it even appears we detonated nukes (underground I presume) in the SE US - wild!

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Most of the testing was done at the Nevada Test Range. Today this is probably the most polluted place in the US. Check it out on google maps, the place looks like the surface of the moon. Area 51, incidentally is very close to that area as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site

Google maps link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...

Thanks for that link, it's amazing to me that they detonated that many nukes underground in that grid like pattern.

I recently read that Kazakhstan was one of the USSR's main testing areas, and has suffered tremendously - this due to the fact that a lot of the tests were atmospheric.

"Between 1949 and the cessation of atomic testing in 1989, 456 explosions were conducted at the STS, including 340 underground (borehole and tunnel) shots and 116 atmospheric (either air-drop or tower shots)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site

Semipalatinsk hosts three of Kazakhstan's four nuclear reactors. They also have one of the world's biggest uranium deposits.

Have a look at these links - "Dirty Harry" was a particularly nasty atmospheric test:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downwinders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Upshot-Knothole

Your assumption that only the evil Russkies would expose their population to fallout from nuclear tests is hilarious.

The USA conducted 331 atmospheric nuclear tests, at least 86 of them on US mainland territory.

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