Project Plowshare; The Development of the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions
Washington DC: Public Affairs Press, 1962. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. viii, [2], 206 pages. Figures. References. Index. Ex-U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Library, with usual library markings. Cover worn and soiled. Spine frayed. Foreword by Willard F. Libby. Contents include: The Human Situation; Geographic Engineering; Tools of Change; A New Raw Material Economy; Underground Explosions and Safety; Experiments in Action and Blueprint; Ideas Unlimited; Engineering Potentialities; The Soviet Stake; Need for Advanced Planning; Management Options and Problems; Attitudes and Viewpoints; International Questionmarks; and Even As Canute. The author was a noted academia who had been on the faculty of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He specialized in international relations and the interaction between technology and politics. Dr. Sanders had spent a decade as a War Plans Analyst and as a Mutual Security Analyst for the Department of the Air Force. Project Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. It was the US portion of what are called Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNE). Derived from a review by Luke J. Vortman found on-line: Project Plowshare is a program, authorized by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1958, to explore and develop non-military uses for nuclear explosives. It is based on the expectation that in time nuclear explosives will find as large a range of peaceful uses as have chemical explosives. The applications covered by Plowshare can be divided broadly into scientific uses, the development of resources, and earthmoving. Scientific uses include such ideas as the production of trans-uranium elements, seismic research employing nuclear explosions as known sources of energy release, the modification and control of weather, and space studies utilizing the outputs of nuclear explosions to investigate auroral, magnetic, and light phenomena. Development of resources embraces such varied possibilities as the improvement of water resources through redistribution, the recharging and improving of aquifers, the exploitation of low-grade oil resources in shale and tar sand, and the mining of low-grade ores. Among the earth-moving or geographical engineering projects envisioned are the creation of harbors by single nuclear explosions and the excavation of a new Trans-Isthmian canal in Central America. (Other projects suggested in this category involve the Qattara and Chotts depressions, the Jonglei Canal in North Africa, and the Indus and Mekong rivers in Asia.) Not only does Sanders report on the large body of experience in the safe handling of nuclear explosions and the accumulated understanding of their effects as they relate to peaceful uses, but he also includes sufficient technical results to suggest the degree of confidence with which present knowledge can be applied to new situations. In addition, he looks into the future to predict the advent of fission-free or nearly fission-free nuclear explosives, supporting this position by quoting scientists familiar with the present status of weapon development. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Atomic Test; Test Ban; Nuclear Weapons; PNE; Peaceful Nuclear Explosives; Project Plowshare; Willard Libby, Radiation Hazards, Rainier Test, Edward Teller, Seismic Effects, Explosives Development, Chariot Test, Excavation
[Book #84142]
Price: $90.00