The same day that Operation RANGER was approved by the President, the AEC distributed its only announcements of the coming tests. Handbills were circulated in the area of the test site, stating that from 11 January 1951 the Government would be conducting nuclear tests at the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range. Figure 8 shows this handbill (6: 18-20). « 4.4.2 Establishment of the Nevada Test Site. Nearly 6 years passed between the detonation of TRINITY at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on 16 July 1945, and the next CONUS nuclear test, ABLE of the RANGER series. The AEC had considered establishing a continental test site in 1948 after SANDSTONE, as a way to reduce construction and logistic costs, but rejected the idea after concluding that the physical problems and domestic political concerns would be too complicated. When the Korean War began in the summer of 1950, however, the AEC doubted that the Pacific could be used for nuclear weapons testing because of the possibility of the Korean War expanding throughout the Far East, thus endangering shipping lanes. On 13 July 1950, the AEC Chairman wrote the Chairman of the Military Liaison Committee that the possibility of a national emergency required a joint effort by the AEC and DOD to find a continental test site. The DOD agreed, and the search began for a suitable site. The AEC and DOD surveyed six sites within the continental United States before choosing the Frenchman Flat area of the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range, renamed the Nellis Air Force Range in 1956. The Government picked this site because it best suited AEC criteria for favorable meteorological conditions, distance from population areas, and proximity to operational facilities (6: 19-20). Known first as the Nevada Test Site (NTS), then as the Nevada Proving Ground (NPG) beginning in early 1952, the site since 1955 has again been called the Nevada Test Site, the designation used throughout this volume. 4.4.3 RANGER Test Operations. Only about 280 DOD personnel took part in RANGER, which was primarily an AEC activity. They were engaged in support services, scientific experiments, weather support, communications security, and observer activities. 81 The