JANUARY-DECEMBER 1963
ee*
209
opment of nuclear explosives with desired characteristics continues
to influence the ability of the program to carry out certain kinds of
field experiments.
The limited nuclear Test Ban Treaty introduces another factor
which needs to be considered in designing field experiments,especially
cratering experiments in which a small percentageof the radioactivity
produced is vented to the atmosphere.
Project Schooner, a proposed
100-kiloton cratering experiment was deferred for the time being be-
cause of several factors, including the limited Test Ban Treaty.
Project Buggy, a proposed row-charge experiment, is also being redesigned to meet changes in technical requirements. Preliminary
concepts of other cratering experiments were also being considered.
Project Coach, a contained experiment in salt, was deferred because
of the lack of success thus far in achieving a nuclear explosive with
the necessary characteristics.
The evaluation of the potential of various Plowshare applications
remains much the same as last year.t.
However, additional attention
to oil and gas production has made such applications appear more
promising.
Domestic and foreign interest in various applications for nuclear
explosives increased in 1963. For example, in the latter part of 1963
a& group of scientists representing the Australian Atomic Enerev
Commission reviewed the program in detail to obtain an appreciation
of the scientific, engineering, and safety aspects in the use of nuclear
explosives. A joint study group was formed with representatives
from the Atomic Energy Commission (represented by the San
Francisco Operations Office and the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory).
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co.. and the California
Department of Highways. This group studied the feasibility of
using nuclear explosives to excavate a pass in the Bristol Mountains
near Amboy,Calif.
During 1964it is expected that attention will be given to the development of nuclear explosives which produce less radioactivity, that
small-scale excavation experiments will be designed and executed, anil
that scientific experiments will be carried out. Also research anid
development will continue, additional industrial applications will be
evaluated, and preliminary design of the large-scale experiments
discussed in last year’s Annual Report will be pursued.
CRATERING EXpLosIons
a
an
Of the many potential industrial applications for nuclear explosives.
excavating earth is the most certain of being accomplished with large
economic gains.
Conventional high explosives have been used for
2 See pp. 241-263. “Annual Report to Congress for 1962.”