Nevada National Security Site around 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas
(
US government
)
A man who approached police holding a mysterious "cylindrical object" has been shot dead following a car chase through a top secret nuclear test site.
The unnamed man burst past a security checkpoint at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, late on Monday afternoon, prompting private security contractors and local police to give chase.
The pursuit lasted around eight miles, the Department of Energy said in a statement, before the man pulled over, got out of the car, and approached the officers while holding a “cylindrical object”.
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After failing to listen to police orders, he was shot and died at the scene.
The department said the FBI had been called in to help investigate the incident.
The closely guarded facility, previously known as the Nevada Proving Grounds, covers almost 1,400 square miles of desert in the western state, and was the site of hundreds of nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War.
As well as nuclear testing sites, the NNSS includes a nuclear weapons assembly factory, an experimental test flight centre, and a nuclear waste disposal site.
Ukraine marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
Show all 12
Ukraine marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
1/12
A woman stands near the grave of her brother, a "liquidator" or an emergency worker who fought the blaze at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, during a commemoration ceremony on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster at the Mitino cemetery in Moscow
Reuters
2/12
Belarussian soldiers of an honor guard carry wreaths during a memorial service for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster in Minsk
EPA
3/12
A woman holds a portrait of her relative, a victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as she visits the memorial during a commemoration ceremony in Kiev
Reuters
4/12
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lays flowers during a commemoration ceremony at a monument to "liquidators", emergency workers who fought the blaze at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Reuters
5/12
A woman puts flowers to a monument to Chernobyl liquidators at Mitino Cemetery in Moscow
AP
6/12
Nataliya Khodemchyuk, 64, from Ukraine, a widow of Chernobyl liquidator Valery Khodemchyuk, sits at his grave at the Mitino Cemetery in Moscow
AP
7/12
A woman holds portrait of her relative, a victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as she visits the memorial during a commemoration ceremony in Kiev
Reuters
8/12
Ukrainians light candles and lay flowers at the memorial for 'liquidators' who died during cleaning up works after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, during a ceremony in Slavutich city
EPA
9/12
A rescue worker which served during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster visits a memorial during a commemoration ceremony in Kiev
Reuters
10/12
Women hold portraits of their lost husbands near a monument honoring people who were killed during cleanup efforts after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, during a memorial ceremony in Kiev
EPA
11/12
A woman lays flowers at the Chernobyl victims' memorial in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev
Getty Images
12/12
A woman holds a photograph of her husband who died following the clean-up operations for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion, at the Chernobyl's victim monument in Ukraine's capital Kiev
AP
1/12
A woman stands near the grave of her brother, a "liquidator" or an emergency worker who fought the blaze at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, during a commemoration ceremony on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster at the Mitino cemetery in Moscow
Reuters
2/12
Belarussian soldiers of an honor guard carry wreaths during a memorial service for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster in Minsk
EPA
3/12
A woman holds a portrait of her relative, a victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as she visits the memorial during a commemoration ceremony in Kiev
Reuters
4/12
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lays flowers during a commemoration ceremony at a monument to "liquidators", emergency workers who fought the blaze at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Reuters
5/12
A woman puts flowers to a monument to Chernobyl liquidators at Mitino Cemetery in Moscow
AP
6/12
Nataliya Khodemchyuk, 64, from Ukraine, a widow of Chernobyl liquidator Valery Khodemchyuk, sits at his grave at the Mitino Cemetery in Moscow
AP
7/12
A woman holds portrait of her relative, a victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as she visits the memorial during a commemoration ceremony in Kiev
Reuters
8/12
Ukrainians light candles and lay flowers at the memorial for 'liquidators' who died during cleaning up works after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, during a ceremony in Slavutich city
EPA
9/12
A rescue worker which served during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster visits a memorial during a commemoration ceremony in Kiev
Reuters
10/12
Women hold portraits of their lost husbands near a monument honoring people who were killed during cleanup efforts after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, during a memorial ceremony in Kiev
EPA
11/12
A woman lays flowers at the Chernobyl victims' memorial in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev
Getty Images
12/12
A woman holds a photograph of her husband who died following the clean-up operations for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion, at the Chernobyl's victim monument in Ukraine's capital Kiev
AP
As recently as 2012, it was used to conduct an underground explosion involving radioactive plutonium.
Last year, the state of Nevada sued the Trump administration over its plans to store more than a metric ton of plutonium at the site, citing health concerns and the environmental impact.
Trump says US will pull out of nuclear deal with Russia
The NNSS is located around 30 miles west of the far more notorious site, Area 51 - a remote military testing facility subject to countless UFO-based conspiracy theories.
The Nye County Sheriff’s Office has been contacted for comment.
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