It's.
To bring water and food where there is only parched or
and people where there is desolation
thank the bringing freedom of movement where there are imposing barriers.
And commerce where Nature has decreed there will be isolation.
To bring forth a wealth of material where there are vast and tap resources
and a wealth of knowledge where there is uncertainty to perform a multitude of
peaceful tasks for the betterment of mankind man is exploring a source of enormous
potential youthful energy a nuclear explosion.
He sees the potential
and he sees the problem to investigate both of them to develop the technology
that will turn potential then to reality the United States is conducting for the
benefit of all nations a program it calls plow share
today this scene of preparation for a peaceful nuclear explosion is at an
experimental site the mile on the potential of nuclear explosives is fulfilled this
plane will move to the site for a new harbor canal or mountain pass. The mind.
While the gas reservoir or water storage space and.
Or perhaps a new underground laboratory.
Whatever the site and wherever in the world.
It might be the experts participating in the event will be the same as they are
here engineers scientists public health authorities
but eventually the badges of national government will give way except for control
of the explosive because the hard hats of industry
and Public Works personnel using this new power tool for their own applications
under established safety regulations.
This is the day of reality that plow share is working to fulfill.
When it can deliver to mankind a proven tool
and a proven technology.
Mankind wears many faces lined with suffering from many different hardships.
But there is a basic frustrating problem common to all many of mankind's pressing
needs can be accomplished only by undertaking earth breaking
and earth moving projects that are too large
or too costly with today's Energy System man has performed
useful asked with conventional explosives for centuries but he has recognized
and lived with their limitations. He knows
that a conventional chemical explosion releases the energy that Vimes atoms
and molecules. But he also knows now
that there is a far greater source of energy within the album itself the energy
that holds together the heart of the atom.
Yes no plea
and this is the energy released in a nuclear explosion energy so enormous
that man must express to yield
or energy release of nuclear explosives in terms of the tons thousands of tons.
Or millions of tons of T.N.T.
Required to produce an equal amount of explosive energy
but in grasping the full potential of peaceful nuclear explosives man looks not
only to their great energy but also to their relative size and cost.
He sees that a tenth of a tonne nuclear explosive for example.
Could be as small as fifteen inches in diameter and three feet long.
The price would be about three hundred fifty thousand dollars the equivalent ten
thousand tons of T.N.T.
Would fill a spear about seventy three feet in diameter with a price tag of about
five million dollars.
Furthermore if he increases the nuclear yield two hundred times up to two megaton
the package is only about two feet greater in diameter and seven feet longer
and the price barely doubles to increase the yield of the T.N.T.
Two hundred times he would have to increase the size of the explosive two hundred
times ending up with a pile of T.N.T.
Weighing two million tons which would feel like Colosseum twice.
And at the same time the price of the T.N.T.
Would increase two hundred times up to more than one billion dollars
enormous energy relatively inexpensive compact
and easily transported there is a new power tool
but power here would add to man's resources of useful energy to do jobs never
before a practical or even possible.
Man had speculated on the peaceful potentials of nuclear explosives.
Even before using them in time of war.
It wasn't until the mid nineteenth fifty's however
that definite plans began to take shape the United States Atomic Energy Commission
was already conducting the Atoms for Peace program to benefit the health
and welfare of men everywhere developing encouraging
and supervising the peaceful uses of.
Nuclear radiation science medicine industry and agriculture
and of nuclear power for generating electricity.
In one thousand nine hundred eighty seven the commission expanded Atoms for Peace
with a new program peaceful nuclear explosive.
The program by its name from words of the prophet Isaiah in keeping with its goal
to beat the destructive blade of the nuclear sword into a power share
that would cut deep into the earth for the betterment of all mankind over all
technical responsibility for biology
or is assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission.
MARANS radiation laboratory at Livermore operated by the University of California
the specialized resources of other commissioned laboratories are also brought into
the biosphere effort but major research and development work.
Plus the special capabilities of various government agencies private industries
and educational institutions the task that faces the plough here is to explore
and develop safe efficient nuclear explosive
and the practical effect the way to use the. Safety and technology.
The two inseparable parts of the power sharing program to accomplish this imposing
task involves more than conducting new field experiments.
It involves delving deep into the store hours of knowledge man has contacted on the
explosive technology
and safety centuries of mankind's experience with chemical explosions
and more than twenty years of experience with nuclear explosions hundreds of
nuclear explosions that are in the atmosphere in space under water
and underground in a variety of climatic conditions all of this explosive
experience combines to give plows here the foundation for building its own
specialized technology and it provides the basis prostate.
The standards
that govern all of our fears field experimentation before each experiment experts
in geology seismology hydrology meteorology radio biology
and many other fields bring their specialized knowledge
and equipment into the field working with public health authorities they are sure
that their specific experiment is being conducted with an acceptance safety
standard this same thorough investigation will precede the actual applications of
nuclear explosions wherever
and whenever they may be what are these actual application.
Some will be dramatic in their own back as nuclear explosions move huge masses of
earth an excavation job reshaping the geography of the land in dimensions never
before possible to meet the needs of man needs he can see as he struggles against
the geography nature has pitted against him.
The physical effects of other nuclear explosions may never be seen by the people
they serve as the explosions are set up deep underground to shatter large masses of
rock in underground engineering jobs other nuclear explosions will be set up to
harness the instantaneous relays have neutrons extreme temperatures
and enormous pressures for scientific purposes.
The is well influenced man more indirectly.
He may never realize
that his daily life has been bettered by the unique research investigations made
possible with nuclear explosions.
These are the types of applications
that our share is working to make possible through research
and experimentation in the laboratory and in the field.
A prelude to the full scientific exploitation of nuclear explosions took place
before the eyes of observers from nations all over the world.
It was the first Felix paramount of the prior year program Project No it's.
Amber nineteen sixty one twenty five miles southeast of Carlsbad New Mexico.
A freak about a nuclear explosive was detonated in a song deep under the earth
surface at the end of this one thousand foot long access panel.
Several months out with a number of them reporters
and photographers gave the world that first look at a nuclear blast
and laboratory powerchair
experts whether the one hundred forty degree heat to gather firsthand information
of scientific significance
but even before there's actual entrance into the cavity instruments
and earth samples provided valuable scientific data earth's motion studies made
during the gnome explosion added to scientists understanding of the earth structure
throughout a march part of the United States in a neutron physics experiment
scientists were able to capture analyze
and measure some of the enormous quantity of neutrons released in the explosion an
important step in expanding man's fundamental knowledge of the structure of matter
laboratory analysis of samples taken for isotope studies showed
that nuclear explosions are a new potential means of mass producing radioactive
isotopes to meet the expanding needs of science medicine industry
and agriculture.
But this was only the beginning of what promises to be one of the most significant
scientific contributions of nuclear explosion.
What appears
that man may now have within his reach a key to understanding many basic processes
of nature this scheme may be forged by a nuclear explosion.
In nineteen sixty four important steps in this direction were taken an experiment
with nuclear explosive specially designed to produce high intensity neutron
radiation. The specific characteristic
that promotes isotope formation in one hundred millionth of a second more new drums
were released by each explosion
and could be released over decades in the most efficient nuclear reactor.
The blast pumped these new brands into targets of uranium producing isotopes of
very heavy elements beyond uranium eventually large air scientists hope to use
these heavier elements as targets in nuclear explosions.
The result could be the production of new elements. Never before created by man.
This may be the key to answering basic questions about nature a man has asked since
the beginning of time.
There is another question man seeks to answer a question
that raises an even more pressing problem.
How can the recovery of Natural Resources be increased to meet manned ever growing
need flowers care underground engineering may be one of the answers
nuclear explosions deep underground break
and splintered huge areas of rock these massive effect may permit highly promising
recovery of resources that have been impossible
or economically impractical to extract from the earth.
By digging tunnels deep into the explosive region last year.
Teams have been able to examine
and evaluate the impacts of underground engineering with nuclear explosive packs
achieved with various explosive yields in various types of run industries
and research institutes in the United States and in various parts of the world.
I recognize many potential uses for power here underground engineering they can see
how. Nuclear explosions could increase both the total recovery
and the rate of recovery of that natural gas
and oil reserves by effectively breaking that rock so
that these valuable resources can flow through they can see how copper could be
extracted from the ground more efficiently as a nuclear explosion shattered the
surrounding rock letting through the solutions that dissolve the copper
and carry it to the surface they can see how the huge area of broken
and fractured grab could be used for receiving as well as releasing materials for
storing natural gas near its market area for storing rainwater
that could seat down underground where it wouldn't evaporate
or even for this building of chemical waste materials to underground formations.
The mining industry has seen another significant potential for underground nuclear
engineering this potential was actually demonstrated in simulated mining operations
following underground nuclear explosions nuclear explosions would break
and crush mineral deposits perhaps more efficiently than ever before.
Prior to extracting the
or by conventional underground mining techniques mineral natural gas oil
water investigation and development continue with government
and industry working hand in hand with the exactly what role power share
underground engineering can play in the lobbying these Diable natural resources.