Field Trip: Project Fautless Nucelar Detonation Site

[FredT]

August 2024 Project Faultless Nuclear Detonation Test Site Exploration January 19, 1968 at 10:15am. a 1 megaton warhead was detonated in a remote section of Nye County, Nevada to test the suitability of the area for larger explosions. Part of Operation Crosstie, it was one of 48 detonations in the operation. The steel shaft with the plaque is capped and was initially flush with the surface. The detonation created a subsidence crater that exposed the 9 feet you see today. The site had a high normal reading of 0.21 micro-Sievert/hour (uSv/hr). A mile away the abandoned Project Adaigo site for example had 0.14. Presumably containing monitoring devices over capped test bores these red boxes were scattered about.  There are multiple areas fenced off and marked with Concrete obelisks with warning about petroleum contaminated coil presumably from the extensive drilling fluid used Oddly some had the bronze USGS markers on top but bare and lots of signs with odd series of numbers and letters. There is a second site that was completed about 3 miles away (Project Adiago) which was going to be much larger, but the Faultless explosion showed the geology of the area was unsuitable for these types of tests and was abandoned. It looks much like the Faultless site without the subsidence crater.