PLOWSHARE PROGRAM PEACEFUL USES FOR NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVES

Technical Report · Mon Jul 25 04:00:00 EDT 1960

OSTI ID:4163265

Lombard, D B

The concept of thermonuclear explosives as a potentially cheap and almost inexhaustible energy source for mankind's nonmilitary needs has for several years been under active consideration at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. Many of the proposed peaceful applications involve underground nuclear explosions, and several experiments at the AEC Nevada Test Site have provided valuable insight into the phenomenology of such explosions. Among the possible uses currently under consideration are excavation, heat production, isotope prcduction, mining, recovery of oil from shales and tar sands, improvement of ground water supplied, and the construction of earth-fill dams. In addition, a program of experimental research in the laboratory and in the field is under way. Sometime in 1961 Project Gnome if approved will be conducted in New Mexico. The purpose of Gnome, a contained nuclear explosion in a salt deposit, is to study the feasibility of heat recovery and isotope production; neutron scattering experiments will also be included. Other proposed nuclear projects will involve the creation of a small harbor near Cape Thompson, Alaska as the result of an experiment designed to investigate the cratering effects of nuclear explosives; a proposal to investigate the recovery of oil from Canadian tar sands using thermonuclear explosives is under consideration by the Canadian government. (auth)

• Research Organization: California. Univ., Livermore. Lawrence Radiation Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• NSA Number: NSA-14-022708
• OSTI ID: 4163265
• Report Number(s): UCRL-6081
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

DEPOSITS
GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
GROUND WATER
HEATING
HYDROLOGY
MINING
NEUTRONS
NEVADA TEST SITE
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
OILS
PRODUCTION
PROJECT GNOME
RADIOISOTOPES
RECOVERY
SALTS
SCATTERING
SOILS
UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS
USES