Atomic Testing Museum — Now open in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada

The museum (below) opened in February of this year.

It's the result of a decade of effort by the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation.

928 nuclear devices were exploded in the Nevada desert, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, between 1951 and 1992.

As Gerard J. DeGroot observed in his book, "The Bomb,": "There are few other places in the United States where a 50-kiloton bomb has little noticeable effect on the landscape."

FunFacts:

• The Boy Scouts gave a merit badge in atomic energy (below)

• Fiestaware had to stop making its red pottery because the U.S. needed the uranium used to produce the color (check out your collection with a Geiger counter: you might be surprised)

• Civilian uses for nuclear explosions were explored: in 1962 a 104-kiloton blast moved more than 6 million cubic yards of earth. When radioactive iodine turned up in the milk supply of Salt Lake City, further plans were shelved

• In 1988 a Russian visit to the site for inspection resulted in the Soviet flag flying above the site during those days

• Though the 1992 ban on atomic testing marked the end of testing in Nevada, the site is maintained and ready should the U.S. decide to resume testing

[via Michael J. Ybarra and the Wall Street Journal]