GadgetFreak

It is only open two days a year, the next one being April 7, 2007. I have been thinking of visiting for a while but was wondering if anyone who had visited had any first hand comments. Thanks for any comments.

dmitzel

Are you referring as the old Ground-Zero site in NM, aka Manhattan Project? That's cool that they open it up at all to the public. I was flying SAN-DTW a while back, window on the right side of the A/C and was looking towards the desert in the distance for it. Wish I had a GPS so I could gauge appx. how far the old blast area was. Not sure if there is any physical characteristics left after 60+ years anyway that you could see from the air.

Please report back as to how it went on your return. I, among others, have an interest in fissile things that go boom.

GadgetFreak

Yes. There is a monument at Ground Zero and there are some exhibits including some of the debris from the monitoring equipment and some trinitite, the radioactive glass left in the crater. There is also a protected, covered area of the original crater but Im not sure if that is open to the public.

hauteboy

I visited the Trinity site in October 1997 (wow, has it really been that long?!? )
The site is on the White Sands missile range and only open the first Saturday in April and October. The site itself isn't very large and there's really not much to see. The site is very remote (not surprisingly!) They have a marker at ground Zero and a model of the FatMan bomb that was tested here and was also dropped on Japan. The ground all around has been scraped up and replaced but they have one small section preserved that has glass fragments created by the explosion. They had a display showing the radiation exposure for an hour visit is much less than an X-ray or even a cross-country flight. But still wouldn't hang around too long There's also an abandoned house a few miles away that you can visit. The entrance is near the town of Soccoro, New Mexico, off of US380.

I made a long weekend trip of it, I flew into El Paso Friday night and stayed overnight in Socorro. The next day I drove to the Trinity site, then continued onto Roswell, then finally overnight at Carlsbad caverns (loong drive). On Sunday I visited Carlsbad caverns then drove back to El Paso.

SFSC

It always seemed strange to me that the Hiroshima bomb was so different from the Fat Man.

GadgetFreak

I think that they wanted to try two different types of detonators. Also, I seem to recall that the Hiroshima bomb was uranium and the Nagasaki bomb was plutonium. And I think that there was difficulty in making enough enriched material for either. That might have had something to do with it.

Rejuvenated

Have not, but definately on my "to-do" list.

GadgetFreak

How far is it/easy to get to is it from ABQ? Im considering flying out the evening of the 6th, getting up the morning of the 7th and driving there to see it. Then head back to NY either Saturday night or Sunday morning.

hauteboy

ABQ's a lot closer than ElPaso, so that should be fine.
It still took maybe an hour to drive from Socorro (it's a fair distance inside the base), so maybe ~2 hrs from ABQ. Just take I-25 to US380 east.

altaskier

At the time it was much harder to do isotopic separation (U235) than chemical separation (Pu238 made in reactors). At the same time, plutionium requires implosion detonation which is rather tricky while uranium can work in a simple gun-type bomb. Therefore it was felt that there was no need to test a uranium gun-type bomb, but there was a desire to test a plutonium gun-type bomb rather than have it go fizzle in a bombing meant to have frightful impact on an enemy...

BNA_flyer

This is something I've always wanted to do, although my wife has strongly discouraged me, being afraid of cancer and/or mutant children resulting from radiation exposure (haven't convinced her yet that there's not that much residual radiation left). Do you have to apply ahead of time to some agency to be able to do it?

I've also wanted to take a tour of the Nevada Test Site, although I don't know if those are still even offered.

GadgetFreak

As far as I can tell you dont need to sign up in advance on the two days of the year it is open. There is information on the White Sands Missle Range site. You can Google "Trinity Site" and get the info including the phone number of the White Sands press office for any questions. There are a few sites with pictures posted from previous open houses. They include people with Geiger counters and information on the exposure levels from being there. As time has passed they have eased the restrictions that were in place due to radiation. Also, the original crater was covered with dirt to cover up the radioactive material somewhat.

eastwest

I visited in 2005. PM me for a link to some pictures I took while there.

rives21

Yes, I visited in 2001. I was at White Sands Missile Range for official reasons and was very fortunate to receive a private tour of the area - including the blast site. I was also encouraged to take a small piece of trinitite home with me. I've tested it with a geiger counter and it's not much more radioactive than normal background radiation. It's pretty cool, but I wonder what it would fetch on eBay?

To get there, I started at the base close to Las Cruces and drove north through the range - no missile tests that day. It took almost 3 hours one way, but well worth it. I would encourage others to visit if possible.

peachfront

If you can't go on the days open to the public, you can sometimes join a tour. We went in November, on a tour arranged by the Bosque del Apache. A man who observed the explosion led the tour.

http://peachfront.diaryland.com/newmex3.html

Scroll down a little, you'll get to the Trinity report. Pictures too.

Rives, I believe the tour guide told us that the tiny pieces of trinitite were selling for around $30 and that none of them were legal or officially acquired, even in the area gift shops. However, they don't really seem to mind. It isn't like the Petrified Forest where they promise that a curse will fall on your family for untold generations plus you could be fined thousands of dollars for taking or selling a specimen. I think I'd rather have the specimen than the $30, just for the historical value.

People interested in atomic history should also visit the National Atomic Museum in downtown ABQ. Highly recommended.


http://peachfront.diaryland.com/atomicmseum.html