Nevada Test Site, Japanese Village, Area 4, Yucca Flat, 4-04 Road near Rainier Mesa Road, Mercury, Nye County, NV

Significance: The Japanese Village has been determined to be eligible to the National Register of Historic Places because of its association with historical and scientific events of exceptional importance. These light-frame wooden structures were constructed as analogs to typical Japanese houses for Operation BREN (Bare Reactor Experiment, Nevada), which was part of Project Ichiban. Project Ichiban was established to investigate radiation fields from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The wood frame structures were built for dosimetry experiments designed to determine the shielding effects of traditional Japanese houses. These investigations allowed researchers to calculate radiation doses received by survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. At the time the dosimetry studies were completed, the results comprised the largest single set of data available on the shielding effects of Japanese housing and by extrapolation, nuclear radiation on human beings. Today, the site provides a direct link between the U.S. nuclear testing program and the only combat use of atomic weapons.

Survey number: HABS NV-27

Building/structure dates: 1962 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1994 Subsequent Work

wooden buildings temporary structures villages building deterioration war world war ii medical aspects of war model houses nuclear weapons industry testing equipment mercury atomic bomb casuality commission abcc desert research institute susan r edwards eg and g photographic services historic american buildings survey incorporated holmes and narver johns manville company william gray johnson j h knight j a mccarthy oak ridge national laboratory ornl nevada operation bren operation bare reactor experiment project ichiban incorporated reeco reynolds electrical and engineering company silas mason company rick smith us atomic energy commission aec us department of energy photo rainier mesa road nevada test site japanese village yucca flat nye county ultra high resolution high resolution nevada library of congress japan national register of historic places

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

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