man standing to left reading a document in front of a dozen large rolling file storage units in a large room

Nuclear Testing Archive

man standing to left reading a document in front of a dozen large rolling file storage units in a large room

SPECIAL NOTE: The Public Reading Room is completely virtual. Please email NTA@nv.doe.gov for assistance.

Who We Are

The Nuclear Testing Archive (formerly known as the Coordination Information Center) opened on July 17, 1981, to collect and make available all historical documents, records, and data dealing with radioactive fallout from all U.S. testing of nuclear devices.

The Nuclear Testing Archive collects and consolidates historical documents, records, and data for long-term preservation. The collection includes documentation on the detection and measurement of radioactive fallout and the related factors resulting from nuclear test device activities at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), the Trinity event, the Pacific Proving Grounds, and other on-continent test locations, as well as information on the health effects of radiation and various related scientific and technical studies and reports.

This collection of over 386,000 documents is available to the public through the Nuclear Testing Archive Public Virtual Reading Room. This facility maintains more than 40,000 documents relating to Human Radiation Experiments by our predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), as well as over 346,000 documents dealing with the U.S. nuclear testing program.

The bibliographic information for the collection at the Nuclear Testing Archive can be accessed through OpenNet. OpenNet is the DOE’s bibliographic database containing declassified and publicly available documents. It is an automated searchable database, which enables the interested stakeholder to identify documents of interest, determine their location within the DOE complex, and obtain ordering information.

The Nuclear Testing Archive also maintains the complete DOE Human Radiation Experiments collection. These documents are available in full-text retrieval through the DOE Human Radiation Experiments site linked above.

The Nuclear Testing Archive has approximately 100 unclassified historical nuclear weapons testing videos. To obtain a list of videos, please email NTA@nv.doe.gov.

Virtual Public Reading Room

The Nevada Field Office maintains information relating to the nation’s nuclear testing program, the NNSS, environmental monitoring and restoration, and waste management. Much of this information is already publicly available through the Nuclear Testing Archive Virtual Public Reading Room. The Nuclear Testing Archive maintains over 370,000 documents related to the U.S. nuclear testing program and the Historical Nuclear Weapons Test Films, as well as the complete collection of Human Radiation Experiments documents, available online in full-text retrieval from the Office of Human Radiation Experiments.

As mandated by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), documents already in the public domain may be viewed and/or requested via the Virtual Public Reading Room by visiting OpenNet or by emailing NTA@nv.doe.gov.

Nuclear Testing Archive Documents

Many NTA documents are easily accessible via OpenNet. Instructions on how to search OpenNet are listed below. To request a document or other media not available via OpenNet, please email your request to:

NTA@nv.doe.gov

Please note: Requests can take up to 30 days for processing.
When requesting documents, list the accession number(s) (i.e., NVxxxxxxx).
Documents are sent in PDF format unless otherwise specified.
If you request documents or other media in hard copy form, additional charges may apply.

OpenNet Instructions

The bibliographic information for the collection at the Nuclear Testing Archive can be accessed through OpenNet. OpenNet is the DOE’s bibliographic database containing declassified and publicly available documents. Below are instructions when researching topics on OpenNet.

  1. Go to the Department of Energy OpenNet website: https://www.osti.gov/opennet/advanced-search.
  2. In the ACCESSION NUMBER field, enter NV* to gain access to entries found in the NTA database.
    NOTE: All NTA documents contain the prefix NV0.
  3. In the TITLE field, enter the key terms you wish to search for (i.e., drill back, Operation Cue, Manhattan Project, etc.).
    NOTE: Utilize the “less is more” philosophy when choosing key terms.
  4. Go to the top of the screen and press the blue SEARCH buton.
  5. Once you get your results, go to the black bar in the top banner of the page and click on ACCESSION NUMBER in order to put the documents in ascending numerical order.
  6. Scroll through the list of documents to determine which documents may be of interest to you.
  7. Compile a list of documents you wish to review.
  8. Press ADVANCED SEARCH in the top left corner to go back to the OpenNet search fields to continue research utilizing additional search fields such as AUTHOR, DOCUMENT NUMBER, PUBLICATION DATE, etc.

Related Links

1951 Warning Poster
Einstein Letter
NTS Birth Paper
Nuclear Testing Archive Fact Sheet
President Kennedy Sound Bite