Project Gnome was the first nuclear test of
Project Plowshare
Project Plowshare was the overall United States program for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. The program was organized in June 1957 as part of the worldwide Atoms for Peace efforts. As ...
and was the first continental nuclear weapon test since
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
to be conducted outside of the
Nevada Test Site
The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the ...
, and the second test in the state of
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
after Trinity. It was tested in southeastern New Mexico on December 10, 1961, approximately 40 km (25 mi) southeast of
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Carlsbad ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 32,238. Carlsbad is centered at the intersection of U.S. Routes 62/180 and 285, and is the principal city ...
.
Background
First announced in 1958, Gnome was delayed by the testing moratorium between the United States and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
that lasted from November 1958 until September 1961, when the Soviet Union
resumed nuclear testing, thus ending the moratorium. The site selected for Gnome is located roughly 40 km (25 mi) southeast of
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Carlsbad ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 32,238. Carlsbad is centered at the intersection of U.S. Routes 62/180 and 285, and is the principal city ...
, in an area of salt and
potash
Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. mines, along with oil and gas wells.
Unlike most nuclear tests, which were focused on weapon development, Shot Gnome was designed to focus on scientific experiments:
*"Study the possibility of using the heat produced by a nuclear explosion to produce steam for the production of electric power."
[DNA, ''Projects Gnome and Sedan: The Plowshare Program, '' p. 37.]
*"Explore the feasibility of recovering
radioisotopes
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...
for scientific and industrial applications."
*"Use the high flux of
neutrons produced by the detonation for a variety of measurements that would contribute to the scientific knowledge in general and to the reactor development program in particular."
It was discovered during the 1957
Plumbbob-Rainier tests that an underground nuclear detonation creates large quantities of heat as well as radioisotopes, but that most would quickly become trapped in the molten rock and become unusable as the rock resolidified. For this reason, it was decided that Gnome would be detonated in bedded rock salt. The plan was to then pipe water through the molten salt and use the generated steam to produce electricity. The hardened salt could be subsequently dissolved in water to extract the radioisotopes. Gnome was considered extremely important to the future of nuclear science, because it could show that nuclear weapons might be used in peaceful applications. The Atomic Energy Commission invited representatives from various nations, the U.N., the media, interested scientists and some Carlsbad residents.
While Gnome is considered the first test of Project Plowshare, it was also part of the
Vela program, which was established to improve the ability of the United States to detect underground and high-altitude nuclear detonations. Vela Uniform was the phase of the program concerned with underground testing. Everything from seismic signals, radiation, ground wave patterns, electromagnetic pulse, and acoustic measurements were studied at Gnome under
Vela Uniform
Vela Uniform was an element of Project Vela conducted jointly by the United States Department of Energy and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Its purpose was to develop seismic methods for detecting underground nuclear testing, and it involved ...
.
Gnome shot and aftereffects
Gnome was placed underground at the end of a tunnel that was supposed to be self-sealing upon detonation. Gnome was detonated on 10 December 1961, with a yield of 3.1 kilotons. Even though the Gnome shot was supposed to seal itself, the plan did not quite work. Two to three minutes after detonation, smoke and steam began to rise from the shaft. Consequently, some radiation was released and detected off-site, but it quickly decayed. The cavity volume was calculated to be with an average radius of in the lower portion measured.
The Gnome detonation created a cavity about wide and almost high with a floor of melted rock and salt. A new shaft was drilled near the original and, on 17 May 1962, crews entered the Gnome Cavity. Even though almost six months had passed since the detonation, the temperature inside the cavity was still around . Inside, they found stalactites made of melted salt, as well as the walls of the cavity covered in salt.
The intense radiation of the detonation colored the salt multiple shades of blue, green, and violet.
Nonetheless, the explorers encountered only five
milliroentgen, and it was considered safe for them to enter the cavern and cross its central rubble pile. While the three-kiloton explosion had melted 2400 tons of salt, the explosion had caused the collapse of the sides and top of the chamber, adding 28,000 tons of rubble that mixed with the molten salt and rapidly reduced its temperature. This was the reason the drilling program had originally been unsuccessful, finding temperatures of only , without high pressure steam, though the boreholes had encountered occasional pockets of molten salt at up to deeper amid the rubble.
As of 2008, all that existed on the surface to show what occurred below was a small concrete monument with two weathered and slightly vandalized plaques.
See also
*
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. It was part of Operation Plowshare, a program designed to find peaceful uses for ...
*
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is the world's third deep geological repository (after Germany's Repository for radioactive waste Morsleben and the Schacht Asse II salt mine) licensed to store transuranic radioactive waste for 10,00 ...
References
External links
U.S. Department of Energy: Project GnomeProject Gnome: US Atomic Energy Commission Plowshare Program (1961)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Project Gnome
American nuclear test sites
American nuclear weapons testing
Eddy County, New Mexico
Explosions in 1961
Explosions in the United States
Peaceful nuclear explosions
Underground nuclear weapons testing
1961 in New Mexico
1961 in the United States