Event Date Type GNOME 10 December 1961 Shaft SEDAN 4.21.1 6 July 1962 Crater Yield (kilotons) 3 104 Background and Objectives of the PLOWSHARE Program. From the earliest days of nuclear research and nuclear weapons testing, scientists were aware of the potential for peaceful applications of nuclear energy, including nuclear detonations. This recognition became U.S. policy in the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which stated that "atomic energy is capable of application for peaceful as well as military purposes." The opportunity for American scientists to apply nuclear detonations to peaceful ends was delayed, however, by several factors, including the greater priority of developing efficient weapons applications, concern over radioactive contamination, and international suspicion of the intent of the research. Nevertheless, the AEC ultimately succeeded in initiating the PLOWSHARE Program, which had been planned in the late 1950s (25: 19,17,18). The PLOWSHARE detonations were designed to determine nonmilitary appli- cations of nuclear explosives. The primary potential use envisioned was in large-scale geographic engineering, in such projects as canal, harbor, and dam construction, the stimulation of oil and gas wells, and mining. GNOME was planned in part to provide information on the characteristics of an underground nuclear detonation in a salt medium, while SEDAN was to extend knowledge on cratering effects from detonations with yields of 100 to 200 kilotons. Considering the peaceful objectives of PLOWSHARE, the AEC took the name of the program from the Bible: plowshares" (Isaiah 2:4) (25: "And they shall beat their swords into 1-3). The ultimate goal of PLOWSHARE, the peaceful applications of nuclear explosives, was never realized. The limited test ban treaty, signed on 5 August 1963 in Moscow, ended nuclear testing in the atmosphere, on land, and Hence, a number of the PLOWSHARE 138 oh “underwater, although not underground.