developed for the safety experiment which was conducted April 2h,
1957. The area, 10 x 16 miles and laeated about eight miles west
of the Groom Mine, was withdrawn from grazing before the first
ready date of the experiment, April 10,
Contract and Construction Data

From activation on January 1, 1951, through January 1, 1957,

the total cost to the AEC of permanent construction at NTS has

been $13,546,829,

t

This does not include the cost of test struc-

tures, test equipment, or other facilities in forward firing
areas, which are considered either expendable or, at best, only
semi-permanent. The total does not include quonsets, hutments,
warehouses and other facilities and equipment, mainly of a nonpermanent nature, supplied by the Department of Defense.

It is probable that the total United States investment at NTS

in permanent, semi-permanent, and presently reusable structures,

equipment and other facilities approximates $23,000,000.

Supporting Installations

.

NTS has two general areas: the Camp Mercury area and the forward or technical area, The latter is further divided by operating
personnel into the Control Point area, the Yucca Basin area, and
the Frenchman Flat area,
Camp Mercury is five miles north of Highway 95.

The official

name -- it has had a post office since March 1, 1952 ~- and one

that is becoming more commonly used as the years.pass, is "Mercury,
Nye County, Nevada." The camp provides office space and living
quarters for civilian and military test organization personnel in
both temporary and permanent quarters. Also provided are utilities,
warehouses, mess halls, recreation facilities, motor pool, laboratory facilities, amd administrative offices. New construction
since the 1955 series, including 14 men's and two women's dormitories, has helped relieve but has not removed the overcrowding
which exists just before and during test series, Maximum popula-

tion at the camp in 1955 was 2700.

It is estimated that 3500

was the peak population for the 1957 series, and trailers are
being used extensively.

Camp Desert Rock is an Army installation approximately 63
miles northwest of Las Vegas, adjacent to the AEC's Camp Mercury
and just outside the boundaries of the Nevada Test Site.
It is largely a trailer and tent camp around a nucleus of
semi-permanent structures, contracting to less than 100 personnel
during non-test periods and expanding, in the 1955 series, to

gs,

_ 29 -

is

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