Web hosting Custom Email SiteBuilder

Technical Area 33 at Los Alamos National Laboratories is the most remote area in the main Los Alamos Complex.  It was once used for explosive tests and is now employed for a variety of low intensity scientific activities, including the area's most obvious feature, an impressive NRAO radiotelescope.
    TA-33 is one of about 80 technical areas (TAs) composing LANL.  Like other TAs at Los Alamos, TA-33 is located on finger shaped mesas extending out over the Rio Grande River.  TA-33 is bounded on the west by Bandalier National Monument, on the south by the Rio Grande, on the north by the highway New Mexico 4 and on the east by Technical Area 70.
    The mesa occupied by TA-33 is bounded by three canyons: Chaquehui Canyon on the west, between TA-33 and the Bandalier National Monument; White Rock Canyon of the Rio Grande on the south; and Ancho Canyon on the east, between TA-33 and TA-70.  This mesa is known as Frijoles Mesa.
    TA-33 was created in 1947 as a test site for weapons experiments using conventional high explosives, uranium and beryllium.  It was also used as a substitute test site for weapons components experiments then being conducted at Trinity Site in southern New Mexico. The site was built for a weapons testing group, W-3.  The tests were conducted primarily to verify designs of nuclear weapons components called initiators.  The experiements were performed in underground chambers, on surface firing pads, and at firing sites equipped with large guns that fired projectiles into catcherberms.  These activities ceased in 1972.  A high-pressure tritium facility was operated at the area from 1955 until late 1990.  It is being prepared for decommissioning and decontamination.  Current activities are centered primarily at the Main Site, located near the entrance gate, with Laboratory groups accupying portions of the office buildings.  Other small buildings and surface areas are also used.  Electronics trailers serving remote-sensing towers for atmospheric studies are parked at former firing sites.  An antennae of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Long Baseline Array radiotelescope was sited at TA-ss in 1985 and is still operational.
    TA-33 is designated as a multiuse experimental science zone (EX-4) by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Site Development Plan (Pava 1990, 0368).  Although the site is remote and its use is constrained by limited utility service, it has proven ideal for experiments not requiring daily oversight, or those requiring isolation or that are sensitive to electromagnetic interferance.  Current and recent activity at TA-33 has been concentrated in the area near the entrance from State Road 4.  These sites are visited periodically by maintenance workers. 
    Robert Collins made a report of extensive underground facilities at or near TA-33.  His report, first published on the World Wide Web in August 1996, recounts the claims of an unidentified Air Force Lt. Colonel who says extraterrestrial technology has been housed in a large underground complex below TA-33. The report was accompanied by two photos and a map.
    The first photo shows the area adjacent to the Bandalier National Forest on Route 4.  In the photo, a bunker (one of many) is shown.  Located over the hill area where this bunker lies is a huge hangar bay door (not shown).  The second photo shows the TA-33 entryway at LANL.  The road shown in this entryway reportedly leads in one direction off to the left and down to this huge bay door on the bottom south ridge area.  This is said to be where many of the recovered extra-terrestrial artifacts were brought in.  This bay door is said to lead to a six level structure under the surface.
 

South Site
East Site
Area 6