“A-blasts will mine ore now inaccessible, and recover oil locked in shale. Subterranean atomic bombs will drive electric power plants. Underground reservoirs dug with nuclear bombs will make deserts bloom. And the atom’s might power will make child’s play of colossal earth-moving feats, to dig harbors, dredge channels, and build great canals.”<p>This reminds me of the AI/ML hype.
The 1950's were an interesting time for grand "mad science" engineering projects. Anyone in the Bay area should make an effort to see the Bay Model museum in Sausalito. It contains a huge model of the SF Bay and the local watershed. While this is interesting, it is more interesting to hear the story of why it was made. It was intended to vet a plan to dam the bay to turn it from salt water to a huge freshwater lake. Fortunately they decided it wasn't feasible.
In the early 50's there was a proposal to detonate a nuclear device in the north of Scotland at Duncansby Head just a few miles from Wick and Thurso. Despite this only being recently reported it was well known within the Scottish Anti-nuclear movement for many years.<p>Fortunately a combination of technical issues and coming-to-their-senses put paid to that idea. However we did end up having to accommodate the Dounreay nuclear facility located about 20 or so miles west. That site has had a well documented chequered history including the wholesale ruining of local beaches due to radioactive particle contamination.<p><a href="https://www.sundaypost.com/news/experts-nearly-dropped-atomic-bomb-scottish-landmark-1950s/" rel="nofollow">https://www.sundaypost.com/news/experts-nearly-dropped-atomi...</a>
Alaska was in fact nuked three times; from 1965 to 1971 three underground tests were conducted on Amchitka in the Aleutian Islands, including the largest underground detonation ever conducted by the US.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amchitka#Nuclear_testing" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amchitka#Nuclear_testing</a>
Edward Teller is an interesting person to read up on. I'm not surprised he was leading this. He seemed to have been extremely unscrupulous and obsessed with everything nuclear. Dr strangelove was loosely based on him. The way he treated Oppenheimer and some others is quite telling.
As I have detailed here before as a schoolchild in Detroit our class visited the Enrico Fermi nuclear power plant. In a movie that we saw at the plant in the early sixties they envisioned nuclear powered automobiles.<p>Ford even created a concept car called the Nucleon as a demonstration of what a nuclear powered car would look like.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon</a>
They also had plans to nuke <i>the moon</i>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_A119" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_A119</a>
The Russians were keen to use Nukes for "construction" too, and actually went ahead with "building" a lake [1]<p>This [2] Document goes into all the details of what else they wanted to do.<p>I think it would be a great idea to use nukes for construction, if only it wasn't for all that pesky radiation. I can only imagine how often we'd be using them for mining and what-not.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chagan" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chagan</a><p>[2] <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161223024850/http://e-reports-ext.llnl.gov/pdf/238468.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20161223024850/http://e-reports-...</a>
For a more in-depth look at Project Chariot and the general strangeness that surrounded it, find yourself a copy of The Firecracker Boys: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Firecracker-Boys-Dan-ONeill/dp/0465003486" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Firecracker-Boys-Dan-ONeill/dp/046500...</a>
The 1950's were beyond the Wild West for atomic research (no rules to speak of).<p>While on the other side of the US at the same time, they were leaving time capsules (which may explain global or atmospheric changes over the decades). Its strange hearing it in their own words.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVz8iCkdsSo&t=52" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVz8iCkdsSo&t=52</a>
I wonder if thermonuclear would be a cheap method to break up valuable asteroids into safer sized chunks to be routed into an orbit around Earth where they could be further processed or even decelerated before being crashed into remote areas where they could be conventionally mined. Dust from such an event could be a regional issue, perhaps shallow water body landing instead?
My old gig was at Lawerence Livermore (home of Edward teller); there’s a photo of the sedan test with a few lab engineers posed next to it in the building that they interview new comp sci hires in. One of the senior engineers I was on an interview panel with told me all about Plowshare; weird to hear it from someone who wasn’t on the project.
tl;dr: In the 1950s, scientists and engineers had yet to understand the long-term effects of radiation, and looked at nuclear weapons as just super-powerful conventional explosives.<p>Thus, Project Plowshare, in which we investigated using nukes to create harbors, dig mines, etc.<p>Let this serve as a reminder to exercise a degree of caution with any revolutionarily new technology, lest you look a catastrophic moron in the eyes of history. :)
Think of all the insanely stupid decisions that were actually made in the 1950’s. Things probably wouldn’t be that much different today if they went through with this one.
"While ultimately nuclear weapons were never used for construction projects"<p>That's arguably untrue. Nuclear bombs were secretly placed under several high profile US skyscrapers for eventual demolition. Chicago Sears Tower, World Trade Towers 1 + 2 and such. Times were different then.
> “A-blasts will mine ore now inaccessible, and recover oil locked in shale. Subterranean atomic bombs will drive electric power plants. Underground reservoirs dug with nuclear bombs will make deserts bloom. And the atom’s might power will make child’s play of colossal earth-moving feats, to dig harbors, dredge channels, and build great canals.”<p>How exactly is the State not evil?<p>There are/were Aboriginal/Indigenous [1] people there for millennia and they knew that, then again that didn't stop them from destroying the lives of the People of the Marshall Islands [2], either with this headlong pursuit to use this technology if given the chance.<p>1: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Natives" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Natives</a><p>2: <a href="https://www.latimes.com/projects/marshall-islands-nuclear-testing-sea-level-rise/" rel="nofollow">https://www.latimes.com/projects/marshall-islands-nuclear-te...</a>