Structure on the Nevada Test Site used to evaluate effects of atmospheric nuclear tests.

DRI archaeologists have examined cultural resources preserved on the Nevada Test Site ranging from the earliest records of people in Nevada to the period of Euro-American settlement to remnants of the Cold War.

In addition, approximately 50 years after President Eisenhower delivered his "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations, cultural resource scientists of the Desert Research Institute are also examining historical testing sites used during the "Plowshare Program", a program to test peaceful uses of nuclear devices conducted by the US Atomic Energy Commission, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other Department of Defense entities.

Tippipah Springs cabin, an early settlement on the Nevada Test Site.

Locations for Plowshare sites ranged as far apart as Hawaii and Pennsylvania in the United States. In many cases, Plowshare "calibration tests" with conventional explosives were conducted, but no tests with nuclear devices were done. However, some of the Offsite Test Areas where DRI is conducting contaminant flow and transport modeling were locations for Plowshare nuclear tests.

These tests, including Rio Blanco and Rulison conducted in Colorado and Gasbuggy in New Mexico, used nuclear devices to fracture underground rock in experiments designed to enhance natural gas production.

1970 drilling at Project Wagon Wheel in Wyoming, one of the Plowshare and Vela Uniform project sites

In all, DRI researchers have collected historic records and photodocumented over 80 proposed Plowshare projects and sites as part of its ongoing effort to develop a comprehensive record of this program and to evaluate wheather there are any environmental or saftey risks associated with plowshare sites.

A significant research feature of the Frank H. Rogers Science and Technology Building on the Las Vegas campus of DRI is a state-of-the-art archaeology curatorial facility. It is being used to store and manage archaeological collections that DRI manages for the U.S. DOE Nevada Site office, the the U.S. DOE Yucca Mountain repository program and smaller collections for other federal agencies.

In addition, the nonprofit Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation is using the facility as well for artifacts associated with the Atomic Testing Museum on the Las Vegas campus of DRI.