The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions

Nordyke, M D

doi:10.2172/793554

Title: The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions

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Abstract

During a period of some 23 years between 1965 and 1988, the Soviet Union's ''Program for the Utilization of Nuclear Explosions in the National Economy'' carried out 122 nuclear explosions to study and put into industrial use some 13 applications. In all, 128 explosives with yields ranging from 0.01 to 140 kt were used, with the vast majority being between 2 and 20 kt. Most peaceful applications of nuclear explosions in the Soviet PNE Program were explored in depth with a number of tests, but unfortunately little has been reported on the technical results other than general outcomes. Two applications, deep seismic sounding of the Earth's crust and upper mantle and the creation of underground cavities in salt for the storage of gas condensate, found widespread use, representing over 50% of all the explosions. Explosions to explore the technical possibilities of stimulating the production of oil and gas reservoirs accounted for an additional 17%.

Authors:: Nordyke, M D

Publication Date:: Wed Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2000

Research Org.:: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)

OSTI Identifier:: 793554

Report Number(s):: UCRL-ID-124410-Rev-2
TRN: US200222%%323

DOE Contract Number:: W-7405-Eng-48

Resource Type:: Technical Report

Resource Relation:: Other Information: PBD: 26 Jul 2000

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 02 PETROLEUM; 45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE; 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; CAVITIES; EXPLOSIONS; EXPLOSIVES; GAS CONDENSATES; NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS; PRODUCTION; STORAGE

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                    Nordyke, M D. The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions.  United States: N. p., 2000. 
        Web.  doi:10.2172/793554.

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                    Nordyke, M D. The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/793554

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                    Nordyke, M D. 2000.  
        "The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/793554.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/793554.

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@article{osti_793554,

  title        = {The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions},

  author       = {Nordyke, M D},

  abstractNote = {During a period of some 23 years between 1965 and 1988, the Soviet Union's ''Program for the Utilization of Nuclear Explosions in the National Economy'' carried out 122 nuclear explosions to study and put into industrial use some 13 applications. In all, 128 explosives with yields ranging from 0.01 to 140 kt were used, with the vast majority being between 2 and 20 kt. Most peaceful applications of nuclear explosions in the Soviet PNE Program were explored in depth with a number of tests, but unfortunately little has been reported on the technical results other than general outcomes. Two applications, deep seismic sounding of the Earth's crust and upper mantle and the creation of underground cavities in salt for the storage of gas condensate, found widespread use, representing over 50% of all the explosions. Explosions to explore the technical possibilities of stimulating the production of oil and gas reservoirs accounted for an additional 17%.},

  doi          = {10.2172/793554},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/793554},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2000},

  month        = {Wed Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2000}

}

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