Are many of the US Nuclear Weapon Proving grounds still inhospitable?

Question

Are many of the US Nuclear Weapon Proving grounds still inhospitable? As in are they still unable to live in even today since the numerous tests back in the testing days?

Can anyone list any of the lands and the effects of living there (short and long term) and if any are still wastelands?

Answer 1

The first test site in the US, in New Mexico within what is now the White Sands test site, can be visited by a casual visitor with no precautions or special clothing required. This test, Trinity, was a plutonium bomb, exploded in July, 1945.



Another test site in the Marshall Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, Bikini and Eniwetok, are off-llimits to all due to the effects of five tests done there, both atomic and hydrogen bombs in surface, air, and subsurface explosions. There is vegetation and plant and animal life on the islands, but residual ground/water contamination makes the area uninhabitable.



In Nevada a desert test site in the southwest corner of the state site was chosen due to its being empty, barren, and isolated land. The site was used for over 900 nuclear tests (800 of which were air-bursts), and the area remains off-limits to the general public for several reasons, including its continued use as a nuclear waste disposal site. Several hundred govt employees do work there.

Answer 2

There are many small atolls in the pacific that are inhospitable due to nuclear tests, not just from america but france and britain aswell.



there are no real short term effects from living in these places, unless its radation levels are hig, which very few are.



long term effects on the other hand are rather bad, cancer rates are extremely high and other health condition can occur.



Thats why Chenobyl is still closed but allows tours, as a day of low level radiation will not do much harm but persistant exposure causes alot of problems

Answer 3

The most famous effect of a nuclear area become wasteland is Utah, where in 1955 the film "Genghis Khan" was filmed, and as a result a very high proportion of the cast and film crew died of cancer.

(Including the star, John Wayne.)



Though some nuclear test grounds appear hospitable to nature - trees will grow there, wildlife will move in, etc. - They will still have high rates of radiation, that are harmful to human life. Not realizing the dangers, plants and animals move in. An example of this is the Chernobyl area of the Ukraine, which is just such a "radioactive wilderness".



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/world/europe/14iht-journal.html?_r=1