Operation Plowshare - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Project Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosive

Nuclear explosive

A nuclear explosive is an explosive device that derives its energy from nuclear reactions. Almost all nuclear explosive devices that have been designed and produced are nuclear weapons intended for warfare....

s for peaceful construction purposes. The phrase was coined in 1961, taken from Micah

Book of Micah

The Book of Micah is one of fifteen prophetic books in the Hebrew bible/Old Testament, and the sixth of the twelve minor prophets. It records the sayings of Mikayahu, meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th century prophet from the village of Moresheth in Judah...

4:3 ("And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares

Swords to ploughshares

Swords to ploughshares is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications....

, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more"). It was the U.S. portion of what are called Peaceful Nuclear Explosions

Peaceful nuclear explosions

Peaceful nuclear explosions are nuclear explosions conducted for non-military purposes, such as activities related to economic development including the creation of canals...

(PNE).

There were many negative impacts from Project Plowshare’s 27 nuclear explosions. Consequences included blighted land, relocated communities, tritium-contaminated water, radioactivity, and fallout from debris being hurled high into the atmosphere. These were ignored and downplayed until the program was terminated in 1977, due in large part to public opposition, after $770 million had been spent on the project.

Proposals

Proposed uses included widening the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

, constructing a new sea-level waterway through Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

nicknamed the Pan-Atomic Canal, cutting paths through mountainous areas for highways, and connecting inland river systems. Other proposals involved blasting underground caverns for water, natural gas, and petroleum storage. Serious consideration was also given to using these explosives for various mining operations. One proposal suggested using nuclear blasts to connect underground aquifer

Aquifer

An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...

s in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. Another plan involved surface blasting on the western slope of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

's Sacramento Valley

Sacramento Valley

The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses all or parts of ten counties.-Geography:...

for a water transport project.

Project Carryall, proposed in 1963 by the Atomic Energy Commission

United States Atomic Energy Commission

The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...

, the California Division of Highways (now Caltrans), and the Santa Fe Railway, would have used 22 nuclear explosions to excavate a massive roadcut through the Bristol Mountains

Bristol Mountains

The Bristol Mountains are found in the Mojave Desert of California, USA, just west of Mojave National Preserve. The range, which reaches an elevation of 3,874 feet , is located in San Bernardino County, and crosses Interstate 40 between Ludlow and the Granite Mountains...

in the Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

, to accommodate construction of Interstate 40

Interstate 40

Interstate 40 is the third-longest major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90 and I-80. Its western end is at Interstate 15 in Barstow, California; its eastern end is at a concurrency of U.S. Route 117 and North Carolina Highway 132 in Wilmington, North Carolina...

and a new rail line. At the end of the program, a major objective was to develop nuclear explosives, and blast techniques, for stimulating the flow of natural gas in "tight" underground reservoir formations. In the 1960s, a proposal was suggested for a modified in situ shale oil extraction process which involved creation of a rubble

Rubble

Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture. This word is closely connected in derivation with "rubbish", which was formerly also applied to what we now call "rubble". Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as brash...

chimney (a zone in the oil shale formation created by breaking the rock into fragments) using a nuclear explosive

Nuclear explosive

. However, this approach was abandoned for a number of technical reasons.

Plowshare testing

One of the first plowshare nuclear blast cratering proposals that came close to being carried out was Project Chariot

Operation Chariot (1958)

Project Chariot was a 1958 US Atomic Energy Commission proposal to construct an artificial harbor at Cape Thompson on the North Slope of the U.S...

, which would have used several hydrogen bombs to create an artificial harbor at Cape Thompson, Alaska

Cape Thompson, Alaska

Cape Thompson is a headland on the Chukchi Sea coast of Alaska. It is located 26 miles to the southeast of Point Hope, Arctic Slope. It is part of the Chukchi Sea unit of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge....

. It was never carried out due to concerns for the native populations and the fact that there was little potential use for the harbor to justify its risk and expense. A number of proof-of-concept

Proof of concept

A proof of concept or a proof of principle is a realization of a certain method or idea to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle, whose purpose is to verify that some concept or theory that has the potential of being used...

cratering blasts were conducted; including the Buggy shot of 5 1-Kt-devices for a channel/trench in Area 21 and the largest being 104 kiloton (435 terajoule) on July 6, 1962 at the north end of Yucca Flats, within the Atomic Energy Commission

United States Atomic Energy Commission

's Nevada Test Site

Nevada Test Site

The Nevada National Security Site , previously the Nevada Test Site , is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about northwest of the city of Las Vegas...

(NTS) in southern Nevada. The shot, "Sedan

Sedan (nuclear test)

Storax Sedan was a shallow underground nuclear test conducted in Area 10 of Yucca Flat at the Nevada National Security Site on 6 July 1962 as part of Operation Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear weapons for mining, cratering, and other civilian purposes...

", displaced more than 12 million short ton

Short ton

The short ton is a unit of mass equal to . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S...

s (11 teragram

Teragram

Teragram may refer to:* 1012 grams, equivalent to a megatonne. See Orders of magnitude * Teragram Corporation...

s) of soil and resulted in a radioactive cloud that rose to an altitude of 12,000 ft (3.7 km). The radioactive dust

Nuclear fallout

Fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...

plume headed northeast and then east towards the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

.

The first PNE blast was Project Gnome

Project GNOME

Project Gnome was the first nuclear test of the Plowshare program and was the first continental nuclear weapon test since Trinity to be conducted outside of the Nevada Test Site...

, conducted on December 10, 1961 in a salt bed 24 mi (39 km) southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico

Carlsbad, New Mexico

Carlsbad is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 26,138. Carlsbad is the center of the designated micropolitan area of Carlsbad-Artesia, which has a total population of 55,435...

. The explosion released 3.1 kilotons (13 TJ) of energy yield at a depth of 361 meters (1,184 ft) which resulted in the formation of a 170 ft (51.8 m) diameter, 80 ft (24.4 m) high (52 by 25 m) cavity. The test had many objectives. The most public of these involved the generation of steam

Steam

Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...

which could then be used to generate electricity. Another objective was the production of useful radioisotopes and their recovery. Another experiment involved neutron

Neutron

The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...

time-of-flight

Time-of-flight

Time of flight describes a variety of methods that measure the time that it takes for an object, particle or acoustic, electromagnetic or other wave to travel a distance through a medium...

physics

Particle physics

Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...

. A fourth experiment involved geophysical studies based upon the timed seismic source. Only the last objective was considered a complete success. The blast unintentionally vented radioactive steam while the press watched. The partly developed Project Coach detonation experiment that was to follow adjacent to the Gnome test

Project GNOME

Project Gnome was the first nuclear test of the Plowshare program and was the first continental nuclear weapon test since Trinity to be conducted outside of the Nevada Test Site...

was then canceled.

Over the next 11 years 26 more nuclear explosion tests were conducted under the U.S. PNE program. Funding quietly ended in 1977. Costs for the program have been estimated at more than (US) $770 million.

Natural gas stimulation experiment

The final PNE blast took place on 17 May 1973, under Fawn Creek, 76.4 km north of Grand Junction, Colorado

Grand Junction, Colorado

The City of Grand Junction is the largest city in western Colorado. It is a city with a council–manager government form that is the county seat and the most populous city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction is situated west-southwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. As...

. Three 30 kiloton detonations took place simultaneously at depths of 1,758, 1,875, and 2,015 meters. It was the third nuclear explosion experiment intended to stimulate the flow of natural gas from "tight" formation gas fields. Industrial participants included the El Paso Natural Gas

El Paso Natural Gas

El Paso Natural Gas is a system of natural gas pipelines that brings gas from the Permian Basin in Texas and the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado to West Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, California and Arizona. It also exports some natural gas to Mexico. It is owned by El Paso Corporation...

Company for the Gasbuggy test; Austral Oil Company; CER Geonuclear Corporation for the Rulison

Rulison

Project Rulison, named after the rural community of Rulison, Colorado, was a 40-kiloton nuclear test project in the United States on September 10, 1969, about 8 miles SE of the town of Grand Valley, Colorado near western Colorado's Grand Valley in Garfield County. The location of "Surface Ground...

test; and CER Geonuclear Corporation for the Rio Blanco

Project Rio Blanco

Project Rio Blanco was an underground nuclear test that took place on May 17, 1973 in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, approximately 58 km northwest of Rifle....

test.

If it was successful, plans called for the use of hundreds of specialized nuclear explosives in the western Rockies

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

gas fields. The previous two tests had indicated that the produced natural gas would be too radioactive for safe use. After the test it was found that the blast cavities had not connected as hoped, and the resulting gas still contained unacceptable levels of radionuclides.

By 1974, approximately $82 million had been invested in the nuclear gas stimulation technology program. It was estimated that even after 25 years of gas production of all the natural gas deemed recoverable, that only 15 to 40 percent of the investment could be recovered.

Also, the concept that stove burners in California might soon emit trace amounts of blast radionuclides into family homes did not sit well with the general public. The contaminated well gas was never channeled into commercial supply lines.

The radioactive blast debris from 839 U.S. underground nuclear test explosions remains buried in-place and has been judged impractical to remove by the DOE's Nevada Site Office.

The situation remained so for the next three decades, but a resurgence in Colorado Western slope natural gas drilling has brought resource development closer and closer to the original underground detonations. By mid-2009, 84 drilling permits had been issued within a 3-mile radius, with 11 permits within one mile of the site.

Plowshare tests

The U.S. conducted twenty-seven PNE shots in conjunction with other, weapons-related, test series.

**Plowshare test blasts**
Test name	Date	Location	Yield	Test series
Gnome Project GNOME Project Gnome was the first nuclear test of the Plowshare program and was the first continental nuclear weapon test since Trinity to be conducted outside of the Nevada Test Site...	10 December 1961	Carlsbad, New Mexico Carlsbad, New Mexico Carlsbad is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 26,138. Carlsbad is the center of the designated micropolitan area of Carlsbad-Artesia, which has a total population of 55,435...	3 kilotons	Nougat Operation Nougat Operation Nougat was a series of 45 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1961 and 1962, immediately after the Soviet Union abrogated a testing moratorium, with the US' "Mink" test shot taking place the day before the Soviets test-detonated the Tsar Bomba. Most tests were...
Sedan Sedan (nuclear test) Storax Sedan was a shallow underground nuclear test conducted in Area 10 of Yucca Flat at the Nevada National Security Site on 6 July 1962 as part of Operation Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear weapons for mining, cratering, and other civilian purposes...	6 July 1962	Nevada Test Site Nevada Test Site The Nevada National Security Site , previously the Nevada Test Site , is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about northwest of the city of Las Vegas...	104 kilotons	Storax Operation Storax Operation Storax was a series of 48 American nuclear tests which took place in 1962 and 1963, including the Sedan blast, which was part of the Plowshare program.The individual blasts were: NameDateSize SEDAN July 6 104 kilotons...
Anacostia	27 November 1962	Nevada Test Site	5.2 kilotons	Dominic I and II Operation Dominic I and II Operation Dominic was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 by the United States. Those conducted in the Pacific are sometimes called Dominic I. The blasts in Nevada are known as Dominic II. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet...
Kaweah	21 February 1963	Nevada Test Site	3 kilotons	Dominic I and II Operation Dominic I and II Operation Dominic was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 by the United States. Those conducted in the Pacific are sometimes called Dominic I. The blasts in Nevada are known as Dominic II. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet...
Tornillo	11 October 1963	Nevada Test Site	0.38 kilotons	Niblick Operation Niblick Operation Niblick was a series of 41 underground nuclear explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1963 and 1964. It followed the Dominic I & II and Nougat series, and preceded Whetstone.NameDateSize PEKAN August 12 < 20 kilotons...
Klickitat	20 February 1964	Nevada Test Site	70 kilotons	Niblick Operation Niblick Operation Niblick was a series of 41 underground nuclear explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1963 and 1964. It followed the Dominic I & II and Nougat series, and preceded Whetstone.NameDateSize PEKAN August 12 < 20 kilotons...
Ace	11 June 1964	Nevada Test Site	3 kilotons	Niblick Operation Niblick Operation Niblick was a series of 41 underground nuclear explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1963 and 1964. It followed the Dominic I & II and Nougat series, and preceded Whetstone.NameDateSize PEKAN August 12 < 20 kilotons...
Dub	30 June 1964	Nevada Test Site	11.7 kilotons	Niblick Operation Niblick Operation Niblick was a series of 41 underground nuclear explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1963 and 1964. It followed the Dominic I & II and Nougat series, and preceded Whetstone.NameDateSize PEKAN August 12 < 20 kilotons...
Par	9 October 1964	Nevada Test Site	38 kilotons	Whetstone Operation Whetstone Operation Whetstone was a series of 48 American nuclear tests conducted in 1964 and 1965. These followed the Niblick series and were in turn followed by Flintlock. All but one of these blasts were conducted beneath the Nevada Test Site...
Handcar	5 November 1964	Nevada Test Site	12 kilotons	Whetstone Operation Whetstone Operation Whetstone was a series of 48 American nuclear tests conducted in 1964 and 1965. These followed the Niblick series and were in turn followed by Flintlock. All but one of these blasts were conducted beneath the Nevada Test Site...
Sulky	5 November 1964	Nevada Test Site	0.9 kilotons	Whetstone Operation Whetstone Operation Whetstone was a series of 48 American nuclear tests conducted in 1964 and 1965. These followed the Niblick series and were in turn followed by Flintlock. All but one of these blasts were conducted beneath the Nevada Test Site...
Palanquin	14 April 1965	Nevada Test Site	4.3 kilotons	Whetstone Operation Whetstone Operation Whetstone was a series of 48 American nuclear tests conducted in 1964 and 1965. These followed the Niblick series and were in turn followed by Flintlock. All but one of these blasts were conducted beneath the Nevada Test Site...
Templar	24 March 1966	Nevada Test Site	0.37 kilotons	Flintlock Operation Flintlock (nuclear test) Operation Flintlock was a series of 48 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site and Amchitka in 1965 and 1966. These tests followed the Whetstone series and preceded Latchkey. The individual blasts were:...
Vulcan	25 June 1966	Nevada Test Site	25 kilotons	Flintlock Operation Flintlock (nuclear test) Operation Flintlock was a series of 48 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site and Amchitka in 1965 and 1966. These tests followed the Whetstone series and preceded Latchkey. The individual blasts were:...
Saxon	11 July 1966	Nevada Test Site	1.2 kilotons	Latchkey Operation Latchkey Operation Latchkey was a series of 38 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1966 and 1967 at the Nevada Test Site .These tests followed the Flintlock series and were in turn followed by Crosstie...
Simms	6 November 1966	Nevada Test Site	2.3 kilotons	Latchkey Operation Latchkey Operation Latchkey was a series of 38 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1966 and 1967 at the Nevada Test Site .These tests followed the Flintlock series and were in turn followed by Crosstie...
Switch	22 June 1967	Nevada Test Site	3.1 kilotons	Latchkey Operation Latchkey Operation Latchkey was a series of 38 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1966 and 1967 at the Nevada Test Site .These tests followed the Flintlock series and were in turn followed by Crosstie...
Marvel	21 September 1967	Nevada Test Site	2.2 kilotons	Crosstie Operation Crosstie Operation Crosstie was a series of 48 nuclear tests mostly conducted in Nevada during 1967 and 1968. These tests followed the Latchkey series and preceded Bowline....
Gasbuggy Project Gasbuggy Project Gasbuggy was an underground nuclear detonation carried out by the United States Atomic Energy Commission on December 10, 1967 in rural northern New Mexico...	10 December 1967	Farmington, New Mexico Farmington, New Mexico Farmington is a city in San Juan County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 U.S. Census the city had a total population of 45,877 people. Farmington makes up one of the four Metropolitan Statistical Areas in New Mexico. The U.S...	29 kilotons	Crosstie Operation Crosstie Operation Crosstie was a series of 48 nuclear tests mostly conducted in Nevada during 1967 and 1968. These tests followed the Latchkey series and preceded Bowline....
Cabriolet	26 January 1968	Nevada Test Site	2.3 kilotons	Crosstie Operation Crosstie Operation Crosstie was a series of 48 nuclear tests mostly conducted in Nevada during 1967 and 1968. These tests followed the Latchkey series and preceded Bowline....
Buggy	12 March 1968	Nevada Test Site	5 at 1.1 kilotons each	Crosstie Operation Crosstie Operation Crosstie was a series of 48 nuclear tests mostly conducted in Nevada during 1967 and 1968. These tests followed the Latchkey series and preceded Bowline....
Stoddard	17 September 1968	Nevada Test Site	31 kilotons	Bowline Operation Bowline Operation Bowline was a series of 48 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1968 and 1969 at the Nevada Test Site. These blasts followed Crosstie and preceded Mandrel.-Individual Tests:...
Schooner	8 December 1968	Nevada Test Site	30 kilotons	Bowline Operation Bowline Operation Bowline was a series of 48 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1968 and 1969 at the Nevada Test Site. These blasts followed Crosstie and preceded Mandrel.-Individual Tests:...
Rulison Rulison Project Rulison, named after the rural community of Rulison, Colorado, was a 40-kiloton nuclear test project in the United States on September 10, 1969, about 8 miles SE of the town of Grand Valley, Colorado near western Colorado's Grand Valley in Garfield County. The location of "Surface Ground...	10 September 1969	Grand Valley Grand Valley (Colorado) The Grand Valley is an extended populated valley, approximately 30 miles long and 5 miles wide, located along the Colorado River in Mesa County in western Colorado and Grand County, Utah in the United States. The valley contains the city of Grand Junction, as well as other smaller communities... , Colorado Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...	43 kilotons	Mandrel Operation Mandrel Operation Mandrel was a series of 53 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1969 and 1970. This test series included a 1.2 megaton "calibration shot" code-named Milrow, which was detonated underground at Amchitka Island, Alaska, and the 40 kiloton gas stimulation experiment code-named Rulison,...
Flask	26 May 1970	Nevada Test Site	105 kilotons	Mandrel Operation Mandrel Operation Mandrel was a series of 53 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1969 and 1970. This test series included a 1.2 megaton "calibration shot" code-named Milrow, which was detonated underground at Amchitka Island, Alaska, and the 40 kiloton gas stimulation experiment code-named Rulison,...
Miniata	8 July 1971	Nevada Test Site	83 kilotons	Grommet Operation Grommet Operation Grommet was a series of 34 nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in 1971 and 1972 including one in Alaska in 1971. These tests followed the Emery series and preceded Toggle....
Rio Blanco Project Rio Blanco Project Rio Blanco was an underground nuclear test that took place on May 17, 1973 in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, approximately 58 km northwest of Rifle....	17 May 1973	Rifle, Colorado Rifle, Colorado The City of Rifle is a Home Rule Municipality in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The population was 6,769 at the 2000 census. Rifle is a regional center of the cattle ranching industry located along Interstate 70 and the Colorado River just east of the Roan Cliffs, which dominate the...	3 at 33 kilotons each	Toggle Operation Toggle Operation Toggle was a series of 28 nuclear tests conducted in 1972 and 1973. All but Rio Blanco took place at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the Grommet series and preceded Arbor. The individual blasts were:...

Negative impacts

There were many negative impacts from Project Plowshare’s 27 nuclear explosions:

Project Gnome vented radioactive steam over the very press gallery that was called to confirm its safety. The next blast, a 104-kiloton detonation at Yucca Flat, Nevada, displaced 12 million tons of soil and resulted in a radioactive dust cloud that rose 12,00 feet and plumed toward the Mississippi River. Other consequences – blighted land, relocated communities, tritium-contaminated water, radioactivity, and fallout from debris being hurled high into the atmosphere – were ignored and downplayed until the program was terminated in 1977, due in large part to public opposition.

Project Plowshare shows how something intended to improve national security can unwittingly do the opposite if it fails to fully consider the social, political, and environmental consequences. It also “underscores that public resentment and opposition can stop projects in their tracks”.

External links

Plowshare Program
Bruce A. Bolt, "Nuclear Explosions and Earthquakes: The Parted Veil" (San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1976). ISBN 0-7167-0276-2
Richard L. Miller, Under the Cloud: The Decades of Nuclear Testing (Woodlands, TX: Two Sixty Press, 1999). ISBN 1-881043-05-3
Chuck Hansen
Chuck Hansen
Chuck Hansen compiled, over a period of 30 years, the world's largest private collection of documents on how America developed the atomic bomb. These documents were obtained through the U.S...

, U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History (Arlington, TX: Aerofax, Inc., 1988). ISBN 0-517-56740-7
Chuck Hansen, The Swords of Armageddon: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Development Since 1945 (CD-ROM).
Scott Kirsch, Proving Grounds: Project Plowshare and the Unrealized Dream of Nuclear Earthmoving. (New Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 2005)
National Cancer Institute / Radioactive I-131 from Fallout website. See "Background" link.
"Estimated Exposures and Thyroid Doses Received by the American People from Iodine-131 in Fallout Following Nevada Atmospheric Nuclear Bomb Tests", A Report from the National Cancer Institute. Contained in the Executive Summary is the map Figure 1 - Per capita thyroid doses resulting from all exposure routes from all test.
Stephen I. Schwartz, ed., Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998). ISBN 0-8157-7773-6
"Focused Evaluation of Selected Remedial Alternatives for the Underground Test Area" (DOE/NV-465), April 1997, Environmental Restoration Division, Nevada Operations Office, U.S. Department of Energy.
Declassification of the yields of 11 nuclear tests conducted as part os the plowshare ... program
A chronology of Plowshare Program milestones, including proposed tests and projects conducted
2-part documentation about Project Plowshare from Prelinger Archives: Part 1, Part 2

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