Troy Wade has been a direct observer of the nuclear legacy of both Nevada and the United States.
He came to Nevada in 1958, as the Nevada Test Site was moving away from atmospheric nuclear testing to underground tests.
Wade became the site's test controller, meaning he had the ultimate authority to carry out or to cancel nuclear tests in the state.
Later during the Cold War, he worked in the Department of Energy's nuclear defense department – and eventually ran it during the latter part of the Reagan administration.
In that role, he was part of an American delegation to Moscow as part of the Joint Verification Experiments – a series of nuclear tests between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that led to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
(Editor's Note: This story originally ran in March 2015)
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Troy Wade, former test controller, Nevada Test Site
