Project Gasbuggy Atomic Warhead
Photograph -- Color photograph
Identifier:
2HA161.3
Description
Color photograph depicting a 13-foot by 18-inches diameter nuclear warhead being lowered into a New Mexico gas well as part of Project Gasbuggy. Like Project Rulison, another project by the United States Atomic Energy Commission to find peaceful uses of atomic warheads under Operation Plowshare, the aim of Project Gasbuggy was to determine if natural gas could be liberated from underground shale through the detonation of underground nuclear weapons. The project was a success in liberating large quantities of natural gas, but the high levels of radioactivity left the gas too contaminated to use and the project was deemed a failure.
Content Date:
1967
