Nuclear Bomb Detonates In Underground Cavern – Crew Returns 6 Months Later To This Bizarre Discovery

Project Gnome.

It might be difficult to believe but there are uses for atomic bombs other than just leveling a city. In the early 1960s, the United States Military had practically bombed everything to hell and back with testing in the Bikini Atoll and New Mexico Desert. It was time for a change, a time to see if nuclear bombs could be used for another purpose.

Enter Project Gnome, which was an experiment to see the effects of nuclear bombs for use in construction. To use these detonations to hollow out mountains or level hills to create roads. There are of course inherent dangers to an experiment like this so it was conducted in a cavern 1,115 feet underground and the shaft was sealed with concrete. However, things did not go as planned and the explosion raised the ground higher than expected and shot radiation into the air.

For the sake of their safety, the researchers chose to wait before returning to the area of the blast. Six months after the detonation, teams of researchers drilled down into the pit of the explosion to examine the results.

“When they did, scientists found that the blast had created pillars of melted salt and had irradiated other salts over the ceiling until they were bright blue, green, and purple. The cavern was still 140 degrees Fahrenheit. No one was going to either live or drive through, that place.”

– Esther Inglis-Arkell

The plan to use atomic weaponry for construction turned out to be a massive bust. Even six months after the detonation the conditions were inhospitable and potentially life-threatening. Whether you like it or not these bombs just end up killing people, fast or slow. To get a good look at the detonation from Project Gnome, check out this clip.