Nixon Use of Nuclear Bombs Comes Back to Haunt Natural Gas Industry

[The Straight Story]

Nixon Use of Nuclear Bombs Comes Back to Haunt Natural Gas Industry

Calling it “nuclear stimulation technology,” the Nixon administration exploded nearly half a dozen atomic weapons in the American West in the hopes of solving what was then feared a coming natural-gas shortage.

Until now little has been written about this forgotten effort in energy development, which called for detonating thousands of warheads under the earth’s surface to break up rock formations containing gas and oil deposits.

A total of five bombs were set off in Colorado and New Mexico. However, federal officials soon realized that there was a major problem with the plan…nobody wanted to buy natural gas that might be tainted with radioactive gas.

The government gave up on the ambitious idea in the 1970s. Exploding bombs as an energy program appeared to have ended up being nothing more than a bizarre episode in U.S. history…but now it may be coming back to haunt some people in Colorado.

http://www.allgov.com/Unusual_News/ViewNews/Nixon_Use_of_Nuclear_Bombs_Comes_Back_to_Haunt_Natural_Gas_Industry_110427

[Wilms]

1. Nuclear fracking! Wow. n/t

[Renew Deal]

2. I think you mean....

Nuclear Fracking! Awesome! :nuke:

[crickets]

3. Inventors who come up with a toy, no matter how dangerous that toy might be,

just can't stand it if it's not being used for something.

'Bizarre'? More like insane. Wow.

There's a list of more links after the article, including

Detonating nukes in search of natural gas: A curious tale in the 1960s and ’70s
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/24/2823225/detonating-nuclear-bombs-in-search.html

[marked50]

4. Visited the site in New Mexico

The wife and I visited the GasBuggy site in NM a few years ago when we had heard that there had been "another" nuclear detonation in NM other than that first one outside Alamogordo. It's a nice, scenic drive to get there and a rather pretty spot in the Carson National Forest. It seemed real weird to be standing at that spot and reading a very simple plaque to mark it. Most people are really surprised to hear about this place. For directions to get there...

http://www.atomictourist.com/gasbug.htm