[IMAGE] ____________________________________________________________________ Major U.S. Government Bases Near Las Vegas ____________________________________________________________________ NELLIS/TEST SITE The U. S. Department of Energy’s Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) manages the 3,510 square kilometer (1,350 square miles) Nevada Test Site (NTS), a massive outdoor laboratory larger than the state of Rhode Island. The NTS is approximately 104 kilometers (65 miles) northwest of Las Vegas in Nye county. A nine-month moratorium on nuclear weapons testing went into effect on October 1, 1992, and then was extended for another 15 months. The Las Vegas-based DOE/NV’s other principal missions are management and operation of national test and demonstration facilities, national nuclear non-proliferation and treaty verification, environmental restoration and waste management and technical and administrative support for the Yucca Mountain Project. Salary costs for NTS and Las Vegas metropolitan area workers total about $300-million for the 1994 fiscal year. Approximately 7,000 DOE/NV employees reside in Southern Nevada. DOE/NV’s budget is approximately $800-million for 1994. Since the NTS was chosen as a continental nuclear testing ground in December, 1950, DOE and its forerunner agencies have spent an estimated $650-million for capital equipment and an estimated $426-million for building, roads, power lines and related activities. During the past 42 years an estimated $10 billion has been spent for all NV operations and programs. The DOE Nevada Operations office manages a nationwide aerial radiological background survey program that requires flights over and in the vicinity of nuclear-generating power plants, industrial sites, laboratories, harbors and other sites where nuclear operations have been conducted or scheduled. Fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters are used in these aerial surveys that have been conducted for more than 30 years to measure radiological background levels. The flight crews are based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and Andrews Air Force Base (Maryland). DOE/NV also manages and staffs the nation's Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC), a highly mobile unit that can be in operation within 24 hours anywhere in the nation. DOE/NV's Operations office provides administrative support for DOE's Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project Office that is studying the feasibility of a radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Approximately 600 federal employees are working on DOE/NV programs in Nevada. Of this total, about 350 are DOE employees. Other federal agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce, U. S. Geological Survey and Defense Nuclear Agency. NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE Nellis Air Force Base is located eight miles northeast of Las Vegas. The base covers 12,000 square miles of airspace and approximately 3-million acres of land. It is the largest and most complex installation in the Air Combat command. In 1993, the operating and maintenance outlays totaled over $168 million. The gross regional product (final value of all goods and services that pass through the market) in the year 2000 is estimated to be $1.06-billion. Presently, Nellis Air Force Base accounts for 5.6 per cent of Clark County's gross product. Nellis is one of the largest employers in Southern Nevada with 7,100 military and 2,000 civilian personnel. In addition, there is an average of 5,000 temporary duty (TDY) personnel per month at the base. Last year, aircraft flew 21,609 sorties which, combined with the number of personnel, makes Nellis one of the busiest air bases in the world. The primary mission of Nellis Air Force Base is training which includes every type of aircraft in the U. S. Air Force inventory along with air and ground units from NATO. Specializing in advanced fighter training, missions unique to Nellis include the USAF Fighter Weapons School, Red Flag combat training exercises and the world famous "Thunderbirds" Air Demonstration Squadron. During 1993, the U. S. Air Force began activating a Combat Rescue School at Nellis. The school will be the Air Force's center of excellence for rescue forces and will provide advanced training, test and evaluation of new procedures, equipment and tactics. The first class is scheduled to begin in 1995. In addition to the training squadrons, Nellis has two operational squadrons--the 66th Air Rescue Squadron (ARS) and the 61st Fighter Squadron (F-4G Wild Weasels). ____________________________________________________________________ Return to Lifestyle Return to Virtual Las Vegas ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 1994, KLAS-TV & InfiNet, L.C. www@infi.net