Discovered item determined not to pose threat to facility

A suspicious item found late Tuesday afternoon near a high-security area of the Nevada National Security Site prompted a response from emergency crews and law enforcement officials, a government agency authority said.

The item was determined not to be a threat, said Dave Taylor, a member of the joint information media support team for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Local and federal law enforcement responded to support, Taylor said. The NNSA is a branch of the Department of Energy agency that runs the security site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Taylor said the incident occurred "a little before 4 p.m."

"A suspicious item was found outside the Device Assembly Facility security perimeter fence and we have determined that it involves a nonthreatening item," he said at 7:30 p.m.

Taylor said all employees were accounted for and there was no report of injuries.

The Device Assembly Facility, a thick-walled collection of buildings with tall fences and metal doors, is where scientists can assemble and disassemble nuclear devices, including warheads destined for testing, in a safe, secure environment. It is located in Area 6, in the central portion of the Rhode Island-sized site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, roughly 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Taylor said he didn't have information on how the suspicious item was found or how it got there.

The Device Assembly Facility was built in the mid-1980s to support underground nuclear weapons testing, which was put on hold indefinitely after the last full-scale nuclear detonation at the Nevada Test Site on Sept. 23, 1992.

The facility consists of 30 steel-reinforced concrete buildings connected by a rectangular common corridor, according to a Department of Energy fact sheet. Covered by compacted earth, the complex spans 100,000 square feet and includes detection and suppression systems for safety and a blast door designed to mitigate the effects of an explosion.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.