of movement where there are imposing barriers and commerce where nature has decreed there will be isolation to bring forth a wealth of material where there are vast and tap resources and a wealth of knowledge where there is uncertainty to perform a multitude of peaceful tasks for the betterment of mankind potential and he sees the problem to investigate both of them to develop the technology that will turn potential then to reality the united states is conducting for the benefit of all nations a program it calls today this scene of preparation for a peaceful nuclear explosion is at an experimental site the mile on the potential of nuclear explosives is fulfilled this plane will move to the site for a new harbor canal or mountain pass the gas reservoir or water storage space and or perhaps a new underground laboratory whatever the site and wherever in the world it might be the experts participating in the event will be the same as they are here engineers scientists public health authorities but eventually the badges of national government will give way except for control of the explosive because the hard hats of industry and public works personnel using this new power tool for their own applications under established safety regulations this is the day of reality that plow share is working to fulfill when it can deliver to mankind a proven tool and a proven technology mankind wears many faces lined with suffering from many different hardships but there is a basic frustrating problem common to all many of mankind's pressing needs can be accomplished only by undertaking earth breaking and earth moving projects that are too large or too costly with today's energy system man has performed useful asked with conventional explosives for centuries but he has recognized and lived with their limitations he knows that a conventional chemical explosion releases the energy th nuclear explosion energy so enormous that man must express to yield or energy release of nuclear explosives in terms of the tons thousands of tons or millions of tons of t n t required to produce an equal amount of explosive energy but in grasping the full potential of peaceful nuclear explosives man looks not only to their great energy but also to their relative size and cost he sees that tonne nuclear explosive for example could be as small as fifteen inches in diameter and three feet long the price would be about three hundred fifty thousand dollars the equivalent ten thousand tons of t n t would spear about seventy three feet in diameter with a price tag of about five million dollars furthermore if he increases the nuclear yield two hundred times up to two megaton the package is only about two feet greater in diameter and seven feet longer and the price barely doubles to increase the yield of the t n t two hundred times he would have to increase the size of the explosive two hundred times ending up with a pile of t n t weighing two million tons which would feel like colosseum twice and at the same time the price of the t n t would increase two hundred times up to more than one billion dollars the united states atomic energy commission was already conducting the atoms for peace program to benefit the health and welfare of men everywhere developing encouraging and supervising the peaceful uses of nuclear radiation science over all technical responsibility for biology or is assigned to the atomic energy commission marans radiation laboratory at livermore operated by the university of california the specialized resources of other commissioned laboratories are also brought into the major research and development work plus the special capabilities of various government agencies private industries and educational institutions the task that faces the plough here is to explore and develop safe efficient nuclear explosive and the practical effect the way to use the safety and technology the two inseparable parts of the power sharing program to accomplish this imposing task involves more than conducting new field experiments it involves delving deep into the store hours of knowledge man has contacted on the explosive technology and safety centuries of mankind's experience with chemical explosions and more than twenty years of experience with nuclear explosions hundreds of nuclear explosions that are in the atmosphere in space under water and underground in a variety of climatic condition all of this explosive experience combines to give plows here the foundation for building its own specialized technology and it provides the basis prostate the standards that govern all of our fears field experimentation before each experiment experts in geology seismology hydrology meteorology radio biology and many other fields bring their specialized knowledge and equipment into the field working with public health authorities they are sure that their specific experiment is being conducted with an acceptance safety standard this same thorough investigation will precede the actual applications of nuclear explosions wherever and whenever they may be what are these actual application some will be dramatic in their own back as nuclear explosions move huge masses of earth an excavation job reshaping the geography of the land in dimensions never before possible to meet the needs of man needs he can see as he struggles against the geography nature has pitted against him the physical effects of other nuclear explosions may never be seen by the people they serve as the explosions are set up deep underground to shatter large masses of rock in underground engineering jobs other nuclear explosions will be set up to harness the instantaneous relays have neutrons extreme temperatures and enormous pressures for scientific purposes the is well influenced man more indirectly he may never realize that his daily life has been bettered by the unique research investigations made possible with nuclear explosions these are the types of applications that our share is working to make possible through research and experimentation in the laboratory and in the field a prelude to the full scientific exploitation of nuclear explosions took place before the eyes of observers from nations all over the world it was the first felix paramount of the prior year program project no amber nineteen sixty one twenty five miles southeast of carlsbad new mexico whether the one hundred forty degree heat to gather firsthand information of scientific significance but even before there's actual entrance into the cavity instruments and earth samples provided valuable scientific data earth's motion studies made during the gnome explosion added to scientists understanding of the earth structure throughout a march part of the united states in a neutron physics experiment scientists were able to capture analyze and measure some of the quantity of neutrons released in the explosion an important step in expanding man's fundamental knowledge of the structure of matter laboratory analysis of samples taken for isotope studies showed that nuclear explosions  potential means of mass producing radioactive isotopes to meet the expanding needs of science medicine industry and agriculture but this was only the beginning of what promises to be one of the most significant scientific contributions of nuclear explosion what appears that man may now have within his reach a key to understanding many basic processes of nature this scheme may be forged by a nuclear explosion in nineteen sixty four important steps in this direction were taken an experiment with nuclear explosive specially designed to produce high intensity neutron radiation the specific characteristic that promotes isotope formation in one hundred millionth of a second more new drums were released by each explosion and could be released over decades in the most efficient nuclear reactor the blast pumped these new brands into targets of uranium producing isotopes of very heavy elements beyond uranium eventually large air scientists hope to use these heavier elements as targets in nuclear explosions the result could be the production of new elements never before crea this may be the key to answering basic questions about nature a man has asked since the beginning of time there is another question man seeks to answer a question that raises an even more pressing problem how can the recovery of natural resources be increased to meet manned ever growing need flowers care underground engineering may be one of the answer nuclear explosions deep underground break and splintered huge areas of rock these massive effect may permit highly promising recovery of resources that have been impossible or economically impractical to extract from the by digging tunnels deep into the explosive region last year teams have been able to examine and evaluate the impacts of underground engineering with nuclear explosive packs achieved with various explosive yields in various types of industries and research institutes in the united states and in various parts of the world i recognize many potential uses for power here underground engineering they can see how nuclear explosions could increase both the total recovery and the rate of recovery of that natural gas and oil reserves by effectively breaking that rock so that these valuable resources can flow through they can see how copper could be extracted from the ground more efficiently a nuclear explosion shattered the surrounding rock letting through the solutions that dissolve the copper and carry it to the surface they can see how the huge area of broken and fractured grab could be used for receiving as well as releasing materials for the mining industry has seen another significant potential for underground nuclear engineering this potential was actually demonstrated in simulated mining operations following underground nuclear explosions nuclear explosions would break and crush mineral deposits perhaps more efficiently than ever before prior to extracting the or by conventional underground mining techniques mineral natural gas oil water investigation and development