This view of Jackass Flats, bordered by Skull (center) and Little Skull (far right) mountains was taken from the top of Yucca Mountain.

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1 Anran Gong

Peter Goin (born 1951) is an American photographer best known for his work within the altered landscape, specifically his photographs published in the book Nuclear Landscapes.

2 Peter Goin (born 1951) is an American photographer best known for his work within the altered landscape, specifically his photographs published in the book Nuclear Landscapes. His work has been shown in over fifty museums nationally and internationally and he is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. Additional series of work include his photographic survey of the Mexican American border: Tracing the Line, a survey of the border from Brownsville, Texas, to Tijuana, Mexico, that investigates the relationship of the border line to the landscape, including how the boundary line divides the landscape and whether there is a distinction between the human-made and natural landscape.

3 Intrigued by the effects of humans on the landscape, Goin uses photography to depict landscapes that have been altered. In his book Nuclear Landscapes, Goin presents photographs of various nuclear test sites and power facilities that have been abandoned and the effects these sites and facilities have on the surrounding area. Peter s archival photographs from the 1980s were scanned, processed, and printed digitally. This project consists of 44 photographs and one panorama of the Trinity Site, and the overall production took four years to complete.

4 This view of Jackass Flats, bordered by Skull (center) and Little Skull (far right) mountains was taken from the top of Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain is a proposed disposal site for high-level nuclear wastes from across the country.

5 In the above-ground test conducted on this site, the nuclear device was positioned on top of a tall tower for detonation. The great force of the blast caused the tower to disintegrate, leaving only its base. The land in this area is still contaminated with alpha particles, although the surface has been bulldozed.

6 This surviving trial railroad trestle stands in Frenchman's Lake, Yucca Flat. This bridge, the only remaining section of an elevated railroad, was located 1,800 feet from ground zero and received overpressures exceeding 450 pounds per square inch. The blast blew sections of the structure off the foundation and bent large I-beam girders. This detonation, code named Pricilla, had 37 kilotons of force. By comparison, the blast at Hiroshima measured 13 kilotons.

7 This crater remains from the Plowshares program, the purpose of which was to test the peaceful use of nuclear explosions. The operating hypothesis was that a nuclear explosion could easily excavate a large area, facilitating the building of canals and roads, improving mining techniques, or simply moving a large amount of rock and soil. The intensity and distribution of radiation proved too great, and the program was abandoned. The Sedan device was thermonuclear 70 percent fusion, 30 percent fission with a yield of 100 kilotons. The crater is an impressive 635 feet deep and 1,280 feet wide. The weight of the material lifted was 12 million tons.

During the 1980s, the Department of Energy studied locations in Nevada, Texas, and Washington to find sites for the long-term underground storage of high-level nuclear waste.

8 During the 1980s, the Department of Energy studied locations in Nevada, Texas, and Washington to find sites for the long-term underground storage of high-level nuclear waste. Because Hanford was already a nuclear area, this site was chosen as one of three possible national storage areas. The dominant subsurface basalt formations were thought to be suitable containers for nuclear waste. This is the entrance to one of three test tunnels in the Near- Surface Test Facility. The tunnels have been sealed, and plans for storing waste in this area have been suspended in response to objections voice by Washington political delegations.

9 This water-filled crater, located at the northern tip of Runit Island, Enewetak Atoll, was made by the Lacrosse detonation (40 kilotons) during Operation Redwing in The water is no longer radioactive.

10 The residual levels of Cesium 137 (halflife of 30 years) absorbed into the coconuts on Eneu Island, Bikini Atoll, are still too high for human consumption to be safe.

11 This is the site of the world s first nuclear explosion. It occurred on July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m. Mountain War Time on the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range of the White Sands Proving Ground in the Jornada del Muerto desert in New Mexico. The 20 kiloton Trinity explosion was the birth of the Atomic Age.

Qiu Zhijie (born 1969) is a contemporary Chinese artist who works primarily in video and photography. Overall, Qiu's work suggests the struggle between the forces of destiny and selfassertion.

12 Qiu Zhijie (born 1969) is a contemporary Chinese artist who works primarily in video and photography. Overall, Qiu's work suggests the struggle between the forces of destiny and selfassertion. Other common themes are social fragmentation and transience. Born in 1969 in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China, Qiu Zhijie is a leading figure in conceptual art and new media. The artist, writer, curator, and teacher has earned critical recognition worldwide for his concept and practice of total art, which forges new cultural meaning from various philosophies and systems of thought from anytime, anywhere.

15 In The Deep of Reality-The Lake (Series: Light Writing-Deep in the reality) photography, 1200x1200mm. Qiu Zhijie 'The Heart Sutra' ( ) Qiu Zhijie

16 Heavy Snow Qiu Zhijie It's Changed (Tibet) Qiu Zhijie

17 Forever Night-Blue (Series: Light Writing-Forever night) photography, 1000x1000mm. Qiu Zhijie Who was the luckiest Qiu Zhijie

19 All of us have a map in our heads of everything. For example, Hong Kong: if all of us were to commit to paper our personal maps of Hong Kong, [they] would all look as different as snowflakes. Qiu Zhijie

STS 350 Atomic Consequences Spring 2002

STS 350 Atomic Consequences Spring 2002 Michael Aaron Dennis 620 Clark Hall Office Hours: M 2-4, and by appointment TA: Anuradha Chakravarty Office Hours: R 10-11AM, 3-4PM; B27 McGraw Hall This is a course