The Atomic Weapons Requirements Study for 1959, produced by the United States Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1956 and published by the National Security Archive at George Washington University in 2015, is the most comprehensive record of Cold War nuclear targets ever declassified. Spanning over 800 pages, this document lists the coordinates of 3,400 Designated Ground Zeros in urban-industrial areas and more than 1,100 airfields within the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe.

I photographed the nuclear targets in China identified by the SAC, collected photos of US nuclear tests, and then created radioactive uranotypes using the uranium printing process. Ports, railroads, and factories constructed by colonists, airports used by the Flying Tigers during WWII, and Chinese industrial sites were all designated as nuclear targets in 1956. Today, the abandoned Shougang Steel Mill in Beijing has been revitalized as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Big Air venue. Warehouses, airport hangars, and fuel tanks along Huangpu River now serve as art galleries and museums in Shanghai. The mines in Fushun and Dayu have been repurposed into recreational areas and educational sites. While many former urban-industrial sites have been demolished and transformed into residential neighborhoods and public spaces, others remain operational to this day.