U.S. program examining the peaceful applications of nuclear explosives (1961–77)
This article is about proposed peaceful uses of nuclear weapons. For the serialized Philip K. Dick novel with the same name, see The Zap Gun. For the Christian anti-nuclear protest movement, see Plowshares Movement.
The 1962 "Sedan" plowshares shot displaced 12 million tons of earth and created a crater 320 feet (98 m) deep and 1,280 feet (390 m) wide
Project Plowshare was the overall United States program for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. The program was organized in June 1957 as part of the worldwide Atoms for Peace efforts. As part of the program, 35[1] nuclear warheads were detonated in 27 separate tests. A similar program was carried out in the Soviet Union under the name Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy.
Successful demonstrations of non-combat uses for nuclear explosives include rock blasting, stimulation of tight gas, chemical element manufacture,[a] unlocking some of the mysteries of the R-process of stellar nucleosynthesis and probing the composition of the Earth's deep crust, creating reflection seismology vibroseis data which has helped geologists and follow-on mining company prospecting.[2][3][4]
The project's uncharacteristically large and atmospherically vented Sedan nuclear test also led geologists to determine that Barringer crater was formed as a result of a meteor impact and not from a volcanic eruption, as had earlier been assumed. This became the first crater on Earth definitely proven to be from an impact event.[5]
Negative impacts from Project Plowshare's tests generated significant public opposition, which eventually led to the program's termination in 1977.[6] These consequences included tritiated water (projected to increase by CER Geonuclear Corporation to a level of 2% of the then-maximum level for drinking water)[7] and the deposition of fallout from radioactive material being injected into the atmosphere before underground testing was mandated by treaty.
^Weinersmith, Zach (2017). 10 Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or ruin everything. p. 154. ISBN 978-0399563829.
^Cite error: The named reference Executive Summary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Archived copy". www.ociw.edu. Archived from the original on February 10, 2006. Retrieved January 12, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"Carnegie Observatories Astrophysics Series". February 10, 2006. Archived from the original on February 10, 2006.
^"Keyah Math – Numerical Solutions for Culturally Diverse Geology". keyah.asu.edu.
^Cite error: The named reference bks2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Jacobsen, Sally (May 1972). "Turning up the Gas: AEC Prepares Another Nuclear Gas Stimulation Shot". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 28 (5): 37. doi:10.1080/00963402.1972.11457935. ISSN 0096-3402.
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ProjectPlowshare was the overall United States program for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes...
detonating a string of nuclear devices. The project originated as part of Operation Plowshare, a research project to find peaceful uses for nuclear explosives...
Angeles–based Richfield Oil Corporation. The project was conceived of as part of Operation Plowshare, a United States project to harness the nuclear explosions for...
well as the Operation Plowshareproject which explored peaceful engineering uses of nuclear explosions. The peaceful aim of Project Rulison was to determine...
The PlowsharesProject is a Peace Studies collaborative between Manchester University, Earlham College and Goshen College in Indiana. The Plowshares Project...
natural gas storage reservoir in Pennsylvania. The project was proposed as a component of ProjectPlowshare, which sought ways to use nuclear devices in public...
using nuclear explosives for dam construction. The project was proposed as a component of ProjectPlowshare, which sought ways to use nuclear devices in public...
ploughshares in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Swords to ploughshares (or plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted...
Bristol Mountains of southern California. The project was proposed as a component of ProjectPlowshare, which sought ways to use nuclear devices in public...
test of Operation Storax on July 6, 1962, a 104 kiloton shot for ProjectPlowshare which sought to discover whether nuclear weapons could be used for...
Dick. It was written in 1964 and first published under the title ProjectPlowshare as a serial in the November 1965 and January 1966 issues of Worlds...
Soviet Union. In the U.S., a series of tests were carried out under ProjectPlowshare. Some of the ideas considered included blasting a new Panama Canal...
December 10, 1967 in rural northern New Mexico. It was part of Operation Plowshare, a program designed to find peaceful uses for nuclear explosions. Gasbuggy...
stimulation test in the Plowshare program, which was designed to develop peaceful uses for nuclear explosives. The two previous tests were Project Gasbuggy in New...
research establishment. However, in a 1965 interview on the ill-fated ProjectPlowshare, Teller used the standard pronunciation. In popular culture, this...
conceived two ultimately unrealized projects vaguely connected to the Blade Runner canon in the interim. Scott's second project, a collaboration with his son...
is mounted on the exposed pipe to commemorate the event. Buggy was a Plowshare test designed to excavate a channel. It was a simultaneous detonation...
gasify coal in place underground in Wyoming. The project was proposed as a component of ProjectPlowshare, which sought ways to use nuclear devices in public...
Operation Plowshare, involving "peaceful nuclear explosions". The United States Atomic Energy Commission chairman announced that the Plowsharesproject was...
Man" (1964) "The Little Black Box" (1964) "Retreat Syndrome" (1965) "ProjectPlowshare (later "The Zap Gun")" (1965) "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"...
Man" (1964) "The Little Black Box" (1964) "Retreat Syndrome" (1965) "ProjectPlowshare (later "The Zap Gun")" (1965) "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"...
referring to the economic cost of the American nuclear testing programme ProjectPlowshare. Bhabha stated to the politicians that a 10 kt device would cost around...
Scott had previously declined the project, but after leaving the slow production of Dune, wanted a faster-paced project to take his mind off his older brother's...
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