Newsroom

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Bomb Without the Boom Exhibit.
(Photo Courtesy of the National Atomic Testing Museum)

Atomic Museum Acquires Los Alamos Confinement Vessel

Artifact to be Displayed in The Bomb Without the Boom Exhibit, Highlighting the U.S. Nuclear Stockpile Stewardship Program

 Click Here for Downloadable Photos

LAS VEGAS (March 2026) – The National Atomic Testing Museum announces the arrival of a new artifact to be displayed in it’s “The Bomb Without the Boom” exhibit. Arriving on March 18 from the Los Alamos National Lab in Los Alamos, N.M., the 6-foot-5-inch confinement vessel will be on display beginning March 19. The vessel is a replica of a container designed to confine the effects of an explosive test and to allow scientists and engineers to gather data using delicate diagnostic instruments.

“The Bomb Without the Boom” exhibit was curated to answer the question of how nuclear weapons are managed today. Through artifacts and narrative, it highlights the Stockpile Stewardship Program and how, with the use of innovative science-based experiments, the United States can assure the safety and reliability of its nuclear weapons without full-scale testing in a post-Cold War world.  Showing how data gleaned from the use of lasers and small amounts of explosives are fed into super computers, this exhibit demonstrates how these practices give scientists both peace of mind and confirmation of the viability of U.S. nuclear weapons.

In addition to the new artifact, visitors to the exhibit can discover:

• How nuclear weapons of both the past and present function.
• Information about specific bombs, such as the B57 produced during the Cold War and the B61 created after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• How the United States studies the effects of high explosives on nuclear materials, such as plutonium, in subcritical experiments to enhance the safety of stockpiled weapons.
• Information about modern nuclear medicine and how data collected by supercomputers can be utilized to identify causes of climate change.

“The Bomb Without the Boom” exhibit is included with Museum admission. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit atomicmuseum.vegas.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ATOMIC TESTING MUSEUM
The National Atomic Testing Museum is operated and maintained by its parent company, the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation (NTSHF), an IRS 501(c)3 charitable, non-profit organization chartered in Nevada. Covering nuclear history beginning with the first test at the Nevada Test Site on January 27, 1951, the National Atomic Testing Museum’s exhibitions and programming also address current affairs related to the nuclear industry.  For more information, go to atomicmuseum.vegas and follow on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Desiree Vontur/Erika Pope
The Vox Agency
desiree@thevoxagency.com, erika@thevoxagency.com
(702) 569-0616, (702) 249-2977

#      #     #