Plowshare

[@fuffoon]

The introduction is as if he's introducing a new household appliance to facilitate daily life.

[@matthewboulter7064]

They thought they were

[@JeremyLander]

He had me ready to buy one.

[@kevinsmith9502]

Back in the days when nuclear weapons were sexy

[@Beatbailey]

The good old days

[@jeffdude6088]

Is it just the recording methods, or did the same speaker do 99% of all old film documentaries?

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

no

[@sipesipe5060]

"I'm from the Government and I'm here to help"

[@flouisbailey]

We are blasting your property with our atomic “plow share” explosives it’s educational. You might want to move.

[@Justadudeman22]

Good comment yes.

[@wdmm94]

I am from the private, for profit, health insurance beaucracy and I am here to deny your treatment.

[@prinzeugenvansovoyen732]

scaaaary

[@MaxLib]

Nuclear explosions for “mining purposes”. This is a masterpiece.

[@rhabdob3895]

Radioactive gold! Oh yeah.

[@dartmaster501]

The Russians had a similar program. They even used a nuke to put out an oil/gas fire.

[@SvenTviking]

The Russians used deep buried nukes to put out a gas well fire, several times.

[@kordelas2514]

@@dartmaster501 All fairy tales without undeniable evidence.

[@dartmaster501]

@@kordelas2514 There is undeniable evidence. Douche canoe.

[@number6715]

Nothing quit like copper mined using a nuke.

[@KowboyUSA]

Two nuclear explosions on Japan and our enemy is now our close friend - I prefer to call them 'friend makers'

[@FriendofMineralTown]

A peaceful nuclear explosion.

[@chuckruckus3648]

Nukes for clean water containing larger more deeper red salmon

[@Nazzz65]

Manifest destiny! Onward and upward! From Here To Eternity!....Don't worry! Every precaution has been taken! We know what we're doing this time and you can trust us, this time...Safety measures are in place! We've got the very best pamphlets. We've read all the brochures. There were hardly any flipper babies....What could go wrong?

[@ryanthiele27]

There were a few flipper babies…

[@erikajune7494]

this feels straight out of dr strangelove, i can't believe anyone took more than one look at this and said yes this is a good idea

[@wonksliver]

Got the shot?

[@dixierebelchic6423]

@@wonksliver 🤣🤣😂 very clever.

[@leechowning2712]

They underestimated the effect of the blast on the soil. An airburst leaves only a very small amount of fallout, a surface blast leaves only a little more (we have been safely visiting the trinity site for 50 years) but underground changed it all. Thankfully, most of the fallout had short halflives, but it is still hotter than we can work in. The Russians did it as well, but they skipped testing and went straight to doing. They used a short series of small devices to make a canal... that they could not use.

[@number6715]

Do you know about all the troop tests using nukes? One such test is Troop Test Smokie this nuke test is seen on a great movie dealing with U.S. nuclear propaganda, the movie is called Atomic Cafe.

[@TomPVideo]

The Soviets also successfully used a nuclear explosion to put out a gas fire from a malfunctioning drilling rig by detonating the explosion underground a short distance from the pipe, crushing it in the blast and putting out the flame.

[@jeremycompton9322]

This really brings home the point that we're not many generations removed from the common chimp, for what a short while we've understood radiation. 100 years ago, radium in the jockstrap was considered 'healthful', and if it glowed in the dark, it was good!

[@thatboy2025]

I'd rather work in the salt mines than the nuclear mines

[@EliHaNavi]

This was a good idea, actually. The fallout information was publicly available, and some projects had levels of radioactivity within acceptable limits. It was cancelled mostly for political reasons.

[@hoganrichard9627]

This is a prime example of an idea that looks good on paper. In practice-not so much. We're still up to our necks paying civil law suits to "compensate" for ignorance. You'd think the eggheads that were able to invent this could have figured out how to better deal with the waste. I'm sure that wasn't a priority at the time. How many pristine Pacific Islands are STILL uninhabitable due to residual radiation? Let's not even talk about the earthquakes triggered by these "nukes for industry". Next to these "friendly explosions" fracking doesn't seem so bad.

[@scottnj2503]

I'll suggest you can't find reliable stats about the health of those men that went into those shot sites today. I'm a hawk, but acknowledge our Cold War operations, from testing such as this video attests. To deference, intelligence and espionage operations. Impacted more US servicemen and citizens with negative results, than those of our foes.

[@De-Mystifying]

The scientists working on Plowshare stopped the project from proceeding because political leadership wanted it to go-ahead under dangerous conditions. If it weren't for the eggheads keeping their bosses from spending billions on dangerous nuclear projects the world would be much worse off. In the documentation of Plowshare it's extremely evident that the bad decisions were orchestrated by the political leadership at the AEC.

[@SvenTviking]

They were a little drunk with their success in developing nuclear weapons and power. Digging a deep hole to divert a river, cheaply and easily seemed great. Nobody looked at the fact it would be a deep, extremely radioactive hole, contaminating all the water you divert, seems to have gone over their heads. Then there was the fear of COMMUNISM polluting their vital bodily fluids.

[@JohnSmith-ng2ek]

What are we supposed to gain from your intellectual comment?

[@wonksliver]

@@JohnSmith-ng2ek discourse

[@philipbaity7083]

Gimme some of that radioactive water..

[@dartmaster501]

The Russians had a similar program. They even used a nuke to put out a oil/gas fire.

[@sp1nrx]

I never thought that nuclear power could be related to a Black & Decker power drill..... power tool... hahahaha...

[@Woodsaras]

In this video they are literally showing how they are lotioning lizards up before the nuclear blast, hahahahahhahahaha.

[@harryfallius7470]

Why couldn't they set off these devices closer to Washington DC?

[@lanasmith4795]

Oh God the lack of PPE. This wouldn't even pass OSHA standards for a warehouse

[@5thjonasbrother219]

You act like this is knew. It was along time ago when they first figured out how to use nuclear power. Smart ass.

[@opadennis]

The Sedan crater is radioactive to this day. From Wiki - "The 1,280 by 320 ft (390 by 100 m) crater was created on July 6, 1962 by a 104-kiloton-of-TNT (440 TJ) thermonuclear explosion.[5][3] The device was buried 635 feet (194 m)[3] below the desert floor in Area 10 of Yucca Flat and was the largest cratering shot in the Plowshare Program. The explosion created fallout that affected more US residents than any other nuclear test, exposing more than 13 million people to radiation.[7] Within 7 months of the excavation, the bottom of the crater could be safely walked upon with no protective clothing and photographs were taken.[8]" Russian thistle, also known as tumbleweed, is the primary plant species growing in the crater along with some grasses. Analysis in 1993 observed that the original perennial shrubs once living there had shown no recovery.[9] The radiation level on the crater lip at 1 hour after burst was 500 R per hour (130 mC/(kg·h)),[7] but it dropped to 500 mR per hour after 27 days.[7] Within 7 months (~210 days) of the excavation, the bottom of the crater could be safely walked upon with no protective clothing,[8] with radiation levels at 35 mR per hour after 167 days.[7] Fallout US counties that measured the highest levels of radioactive fallout from both Sedan and "Small Boy" of Operation Sunbeam, detonated eight days later. Units are millisieverts. The ten highest radiation exposures to residents from US continental nuclear testing The explosion caused two plumes of radioactive cloud, rising to 3.0 km and 4.9 km (10,000 ft and 16,000 ft). The plumes headed northeast and then east in roughly parallel paths towards the Atlantic Ocean.[citation needed] Nuclear fallout was dropped through several counties.[3] Detected radioactivity was especially high in eight counties in Iowa and one county each in Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois. The most heavily affected counties were Howard, Mitchell and Worth counties in Iowa as well as Washabaugh County in South Dakota, an area that has since been incorporated into Jackson County and is within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. These four counties measured maximum levels higher than 6,000 microcuries per square meter (220 MBq/m2).[9] Of all the nuclear tests conducted in the United States, Sedan ranked highest in overall activity of radionuclides in fallout. The test released 880,000 curies (33 PBq) of radioactive iodine-131, an agent of thyroid disease, into the atmosphere.[10)

[@Roodski]

As long as the Soviets were testing nukes so were we and that’s just how shit went back then. Actually, not much different from now..

[@RollerCoasterLineProductions]

I think I figured out what stymied plowshare and other nuclear projects. “What to do with the waste”?

[@chrisk8792]

Ah there's no problem too big or too small that cannot be cured by a nuclear explosion. 😃😃

[@aikibaby]

No problem except how to handle the waste.

[@danielcruz8347]

@@aikibaby Yes correct, Dangerous long lasting waste..

[@DW-ts5ki]

Including how to bring down high-rise steel buildings

[@charlesbonkley]

And an unlimited budget.

[@nobody_gtk]

ngl this seems awesome

[@MajorWolf72]

„Sir, we excavated that new canal with nukes now. Bad news is we have to wait 300 years until we can use it due to radiation…“

[@rocknepoovey4381]

Guten morgen

[@FIREBRAND38]

@Major Wolf 72 Calm down. Look up _Sedan crater._ It's at the Nuclear Test Site and there's no residual radiation.

[@DW-ts5ki]

No you don't send some unsuspecting first responders in. like 911

[@Woodsaras]

​@@FIREBRAND38:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD look up Chernobyl, retrd.

[@flouisbailey]

I glad that didn’t happen, potentially changing the ocean currents England could be ice chunk or great new-beach front. Oceans or at currently different elevations it’s gonna want to lovel out.

[@mattwalter5184]

Please proofread your posts in the future. Thanks!

[@stilgar2007]

And here we are wasting time, fracking like chumps.

[@jaeweld19]

Talk about the best bang for your buck!

[@zapatosupreme7933]

absolute insanity by incredibly sane individuals

[@matthewgaines10]

Ionizing radiation contamination, who would’ve thought. Seems like it was just as bad of an idea back then as it is now. We had enough test data at that point to know all that radioactive dust generated would not be a great idea. I think the USG was testing for something other than what they claim. The civilian terraforming excuse wasn’t worth the risk. They had other test objectives in mind besides what they claim. They would rather you think they were stupid and irresponsible than for you to know the true objectives of the test. Hence, the nuclear excavation side story.

[@peteman8160]

Rad idea!

[@jamielacourse7578]

Check out the Gasbuggy shots. Not one of those brainiacs could foresee the gas would be too radioactive for use......

[@skeets6060]

I guess it looked good on paper

[@johnjacobjingleheimerschmi3857]

5:58 mad scientists at work on a unassuming test subject.

[@garysmith9818]

Lol. Ah, the short sighted dreams they once had, oh well, it's only 20/20 in hindsight...

[@Evan_Bell]

20:50 Is that the Sedan device?

[@gt1man931]

Thankfully we weren't shortsighted enough to end up thinking this was a good idea.

[@danielcruz8347]

@E Van Hey know you from B Forester channel..peace

[@scottnj2503]

A remarkably naive perspective and clear evidence our government is not above "propaganda". A term often though the realm of ill motivation. Yet, very much then and in use now. A tool our government and industry actively employ today. Point being... do your home/own work to vet information sources. You may not come up with the correct answer, but chances are you'll learn why. This as opposed to be blindly led to someone else's perspective of reality.

[@thomasbell7033]

Sadly, every conspiracy crackpot believes he's done "research," usually be looking on some silly Facebook site.

[@DW-ts5ki]

It has been proven to work well in the steel highrise building demolition world. It preformed near perfectly on 911. three times.

[@Lucky-sh1dm]

@@thomasbell7033 those are people who suffer from legitimate paranoia. Conspiracies in the modern day and history are as true as sand in the Sahara and remember, truth is always stranger than fiction

[@thomasbell7033]

@@DW-ts5ki No, it didn't. You are proof of what I said about above a month ago.

[@Woodsaras]

​@@thomasbell7033id rather have a conspiracy crackpot by my side than some brajnless sheep who gulps up everything the government or the media spews out. Time and time again.

[@sludgepump2782]

911 anybody

[@De-Mystifying]

Comments on resources like this illustrate why nuclear power struggles against its myths now more than ever. Anyone who criticizes the concept on the grounds of validity have failed to realize the USSR conducted numerous operations using techniques similar to Plowshare with immense success and zero environmental damage. Further, nuclear waste is a purely political issue; all nuclear nations make a conscious decision to allow their nuclear industries to produce waste. "Nuclear waste" is actually excess nuclear material which can be easily reused, but we choose to categorize this material as waste to reduce the cost or political implication of reprocessing. The peaceful nuclear devices proposed in plowshare were to be thermonuclear making fallout a non-issue, and waste is an artificial issue. It is clear that public opinion of our agencies and technology have hampered human development of nuclear technology.

[@funkycacahuete2933]

Waste is a non issue? Tell that to the 120+ people in colonia, NJ who have recently been diagnosed with rare brain tumors due to waste material being improperly disposed of.

[@De-Mystifying]

@@funkycacahuete2933 Read my words; I never said it was a "non-issue" I said it was an "artificial" and "political" issue. You said yourself the waste was improperly disposed of, proving my statement. Meanwhile, the WHO estimates 7 million people die per year from air pollution, contributed to from our energy production.

[@JohnSmith-ng2ek]

Your comment is overrated

[@Woodsaras]

Thats some dmb azz retrdd comment.

[@Woodsaras]

Yeah, i think they should restart all the nuclear bomb testing. :DDDDDDDD but lets do it in your country only.

[@finnkrogstad2541]

Muad'Dib approves.

[@JasonLambek]

Plowshare and Plumbob. What on Earth we're they thinking?!?

[@FIREBRAND38]

They weren't blessed with your 20/20 hindsight, I guess.

[@JasonLambek]

Perhaps, however, the likelihood that they didn't care is vastly more probable.

[@DW-ts5ki]

Compare this with what you see on 911. Looks the same to me. I think they were thinking " demolition"

[@Woodsaras]

​@@FIREBRAND38Oh, sure. Just like the Covid bllsht was idiotic only in "hindisght". Naive retrd. By this time, they obviously knew for DECADES how contageous nuclear explosions are.

[@bigchuckyinkentucky6267]

"A peaceful nuclear explosion" That sounds about as stupid as a quiet little knife fight.

[@Sedgewise47]

“Outside the box” thinking is nothing to be ashamed of.

[@FixItStupid]

@@Sedgewise47 They Knew The Nuclear Fall Out

[@gregpenner2876]

What’s wrong with a quiet little knife fight?

[@bigchuckyinkentucky6267]

@@gregpenner2876 🤨

[@DW-ts5ki]

Like. Pretty ugly or go ahead and wait.

[@jayc2469]

5:53 So those Women being treated _Weren't_ benefitting in Health and Welfare?? Jeez how times have changed for the better (sometimes!)

[@codedinvictus2945]

Good intro. 1:27

[@chaliwen7217]

Howard Rock

[@basshorseman998]

"Peaceful nuclear explosives" lol..boy we were dumb then

[@dartmaster501]

The Russians had a similar program.

[@elkaribbe]

Nuclear civil engineering constructions?, … it never happened.

[@Beatbailey]

I knew a guy that fell into the Sedan Crater and could not get out because of the soft sand. The next monthly tour of tourist found him laying dead on the Russian Thistle, true story

[@dixierebelchic6423]

D.U.M.B.s anyone? For the betterment of trafficking society.

[@patrickdunning9820]

We know today that the commentary regarding the fallout is totally false, really is no other way to put it.

[@EliHaNavi]

Nope.

[@brianbee2869]

@4:10

[@Orc-icide]

Project plowshare should get started up again and start ... brining advanced cutting/moving techniques to Moscow...

[@dukeavearl]

Plowpaganda

[@ausnorman8050]

So glad we didn't!

[@eddjordan2399]

And no.

[@ragebrick]

0:38 - "Left on its own, Nature is too pla-cid" (h/t to MST3K).

[@DW-ts5ki]

What would it do if you put it under the elevator shafts of the WTC 1 & 2 & 7 ? They look a lot alike. The explosion going up through the building and then water falling out and then the plumes of smoke on the ground. Yulp I thought those guys were just smoking pot and drinking beer and blowing things up out there in the desert. Humm

[@pamelak7924]

Peaceful nuclear explosions Oxymoron

[@Dickusification]

They dug the suez and panama canals without nukes