Use Of Nuclear Explosives Research Articles

Pulsed Nuclear Space Propulsion and International Law: Some Preliminary

Pulsed Nuclear Space Propulsion, researched in the 1950s and 1960s by such eminent physicists as Freeman Dyson, Ted Taylor, Theodore von Karman, and Hans Bethe, involves propelling large spacecraft using compact nuclear explosions from specialized atomic devices. This technology is often known by the name of the Air Force project in which it was developed: Orion. It has long been believed that the 1962 Limited Test Ban Treaty prohibits the use of nuclear pulse space propulsion. After a survey of the Orion project and its results and a review of the applicable law, this Article concludes that language in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty may override the Test Ban agreement to permit non-weapons use of nuclear explosives for propulsion. With a new space race taking place and with important actors such as China not subject to the Test Ban Treaty at all, the subject of pulsed nuclear space propulsion deserves another look.

Ядерная индустриализация Луны

The industrialization of the Moon is a process that, when copying earthly technologies, will stretch for centuries. At the same time, progressive technologies are known that are inapplicable in terrestrial conditions, but can be successfully implemented on the moon, which will lead to the rapid creation of an industry that produces inexpensive rocket fuel on a megaton scale. This is an industry based on new physical principles. The introduction of such technologies is hindered by a political factor – two international agreements on the prohibition of nuclear explosions. At the same time, the agreements contain legal incidents allowing the use of nuclear explosions outside the Earth, as well as possible technical innovations that take nuclear technologies with pulsed energy release out of the existing political restrictions.

Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America

Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America

Accounting for violent conflict risk in planetary defense decisions

This paper provides the first-ever survey of the implications of violent conflict risk for planetary defense program decisions. Arguably, the aim of planetary defense should be to make Earth safer from all threats, including but not limited to threats from near-Earth objects (NEOs). Insofar as planetary defense projects affect other risks besides NEOs, these other risks should be taken into account. This paper evaluates three potential effects of planetary defense programs on violent conflict risk. First, planetary defense may offer a constructive model for addressing a major global risk. By documenting the history of its successes and failures, the planetary defense community can aid efforts to address other global risks, including but not limited to violent conflict. Second, the proposed use of nuclear explosions for NEO deflection and disruption could affect the role of nuclear weapons in violent conflict risk. The effect may be such that nuclear deflection/disruption would increase aggregate risks to human society. However, the effect is difficult to assess, mainly due to ambiguities in violent conflict risk. Third, planetary defense could reduce violent conflict risk by addressing the possibility of NEO collisions being mistaken as violent attacks and inadvertently triggering violent conflict. False alarms mistaken as real attacks are a major concern, especially as a cause of nuclear war. Improved awareness of NEOs and communication between astronomers and military officials could help resolve NEO false alarms. Each of these three effects of planetary defense programs on violent conflict risk can benefit from interaction between the communities that study and address NEO and violent conflict risks.

Petrophysical Features of the Upper Mantle Structure beneath Northern Eurasia and Their Nature

Deep seismic studies of the upper mantle conducted in Russia with the use of nuclear explosions and laboratory studies of mantle materials at high pressure and temperature have revealed new structural and petrophysical features of the upper mantle beneath Northern Eurasia. These features are hard to explain within the framework of current understanding of the structure of the continental lithosphere. For example, in the region of the asthenosphere distinguished according to the thermal field, no corresponding decrease in seismic velocities has been detected, but instead low-velocity layers have been identified at a depth of 100–150 km within the lithosphere. However, the asthenosphere may be distinguished by structural features of the seismic boundaries. This means that it is represented by a layer of elevated plasticity without partial melting. The laboratory studies also indicate that seismic velocities do not depend on the composition of mantle rocks and are controlled primarily by their temperature. This made it possible to infer the temperature regime of the upper mantle from seismic data. Calculations carried out on this basis have shown that the thickness of the lithosphere beneath the Siberian Craton does not vary and is 300–350 km. These data are inconsistent with evaluations of the lithosphere bottom depth based on the heat flow at the surface. This discrepancy may be explained by a stronger effect of deep fluids on the heat flows and on petrophysical parameters of mantle rocks. At depths where mechanical properties of rocks drastically change and their porosity increases, the density of the deep fluids decreases, and the fluids release much heat. As a result, low-velocity domains (plumes), which may contain partial melts, are formed and the surface heat flow increases. This may explain how low-velocity layers can be formed at a depth of 100–150 km and why the temperatures determined from seismic data differ from those derived from the heat flow data. Deep fluids also initiate physical and chemical transformations in mantle rocks, for instance, produce depleted material that has a reduced density but is characterized by the unvarying seismic velocity. Deviations from linear relationship between seismic velocity in a material and its density is also detected at integrated interpretations of seismic and gravimetric data. Physicochemical transformations of rocks in areas where deep fluid flows are focused can also account for the origin of complex reflective boundaries identified in the lithosphere.

HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS APPLICATION TO INTENSIFY OIL PRODUCTION

In the Soviet Union, a large-scale program of conducting nuclear explo- sions for peaceful purposes was carried out, the task of which was to develop the fundamentals of nuclear-explosive technologies and to study safety issues during industrial nuclear explosions. One main directions of the industrial nuclear explosions program was oil and gas flow intensification. To organize, coordinate and conduct pilot- scale works to increase the oil flow from existing wells using nuclear explosions, on August 1, 1963, the NIS-12 research station was estab- lished on the basis of the Ufa Research Institute of the Oil Industry (now BashNIPIneft). One of the massive reef deposits with a large oil-bearing floor, a large range of changes in reservoir properties, frequent alterna- tion of dense and porous rocks in the reef volume, a large depth of occur- rence, a powerful «tire» of halogen rocks and a strong oxidized oil zone, was firmly chosen as an experimental object insulating oil reservoir from the underlying rocks. The point of use of nuclear explosives was chosen in the interval of dense rocks between the two zones of oil-bearing res- ervoirs in order to form an artificial fracture zone connecting the collec- tor lenses. The experiments were conducted successfully, all types of radiation monitoring reported that everything is normal. In 1982, a special commission of the Ministry of Oil Industry was set up to assess the impact of nuclear explosions on the development efficiency of the Grachevsky field, which made the following conclusions: 1) there was a fundamental possibility and effectiveness of conducting nuclear explosions in operating fields; 2) the total additional oil production due to the use of underground nuclear explosions, determined in various ways, was 150 - 300 thousand tons, that is, 5 - 10 % of the total oil production from the start of develop- ment and 12 - 24 % from the moment of the nuclear explosions; 3) impact of the explosions covered 42.5% of the deposit area where the zone of improved conductivity was formed. For 15 of the 40 producing wells drilled, productivity increased markedly, and the rate of natural decline in oil production slowed down almost three times. In terms of deposits, the rate of drop in reservoir pressure has slowed. The role of the program of conducting industrial nuclear explosions to extinguish gas fountains is shown. In general, of the entire Soviet peaceful nuclear program, the greatest return at the lowest risk to the environment came from explosions used for seismic exploration and intensification of oil production.

THE PEACEFUL USE OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSION ENERGY

The paper presents an historical review of the use of nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes in the Soviet Union, the basic principles of the Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions, the key feature of which is an interindustry character. The characteristic properties and the advantages of contained nuclear detonations as well as underground explosions with external action have been studied in the paper. The authors consider the types of the process area where nuclear explosions have been carried out. Moreover, the manufacturing quality of nuclear charges has been taken into consideration.

Velocity-density models of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle from the quartz, Craton, and Kimberlite superlong seismic profiles

The unique deep seismic studies carried out in Russia with the use of nuclear explosions provided the possibility to identify the detailed structure of the Earth’s crust, upper mantle, and transition zone to the lower mantle to a depth of 700 km in a huge territory of North Eurasia. It is shown that seismic velocities in the upper mantle mainly reflect its temperature regime. The gravity modeling along these profiles showed the absence of a direct relationship between seismic velocity and density. The Siberian Craton, which is marked with a low heat flow and high-velocity mantle, has lower density. The upper mantle of the East European Platform, with almost the same heat flow, is characterized by the highest densities and seismic velocities. Within the West Siberian Plate, high heat flow, lower seismic velocities, and increased density in the upper mantle are revealed. This combination of seismic velocities and densities suggests different composition of the upper mantle beneath the studied structures with the depleted upper mantle beneath the Siberian Craton.

The dilemma of nuclear energy in space

Nuclear energy, used in weapons as well as for electricity generation, has the potential to destroy life on Earth. But it also has the potential to save life as we know it. Currently, nuclear explosives are the only technology with the capability to deflect, on relatively short notice, a large asteroid fragment or comet headed for a collision with Earth. However, a number of international treaties prohibit the use of nuclear explosives in space. The peaceful and critically effective use of nuclear energy to prevent a civilization-threatening collision is at odds with its potential for inducing a catastrophic thermonuclear war on Earth. The author uses the Fermi paradox—if there are extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy, why haven’t they communicated with us?—to examine the dichotomy of whether nuclear explosives are a barrier or a path to long-term human survival.

Project plowshare: the peaceful use of nuclear explosives in cold war America

Project plowshare: the peaceful use of nuclear explosives in cold war America

Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America by Scott Kaufman (review)

Krupar reviews Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America by Scott Kaufman.

Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America

Journal Article Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America Get access Scott Kaufman. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. xvi, 295 pp. $35.00.) Journal of American History, Volume 100, Issue 4, March 2014, Pages 1278–1279, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jau128 Published: 01 March 2014

Project Plowshare: the peaceful use of nuclear explosives in Cold War America

Introduction: Promoting the Peaceful Atom1. A Plan of Biblical Proportions2. Just Drop Us a Card3. A Program on Hold4. From Moratorium to Test Ban5. The Complexities of Canal Construction6. Nuclear Testing, Nonproliferation, and Plowshare7. Making Headway?8. Plowshare Goes Down Under9. Dead as a DoornailConclusion: Back from the Dead?Notes Bibliography Index

Limits on the use of nuclear explosives for asteroid deflection

Recent studies by the US National Research Council identify nuclear explosives as the only current technology able to deflect large asteroids (those exceeding 500m in diameter) or to mitigate impacts of smaller bodies when the warning time is short. Previous work predicts that either a standoff burst or a very low-yield surface burst is easily capable of deflecting a large (1km) asteroid without fragmentation. Alternatively, large near-surface or just sub-surface bursts can sufficiently disrupt and disperse smaller bodies (300m) to ensure that large fractions (in excess of 99.99%) miss the Earth entirely. Even for very short warning times (less than a month), more than 99.5% of a body′s mass can be deflected off of an Earth-bound trajectory. However, successfully deflecting a small body, while avoiding fragmentation, becomes a challenging problem when the required kinetic energy increment is a substantial fraction of the body′s potential. This paper addresses the challenge of preventing the production of substantial low-speed debris while deflecting small bodies with an impulsive method.

Proving Grounds: Project Plowshare and the Unrealized Dream of Nuclear Earthmoving

Project Plowshare was a program carried out by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (aec) from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. Its purpose was to investigate the use of nuclear explosives for peaceful purposes, such as building canals, creating harbors, cutting paths for roads and railways, and freeing natural gas reserves trapped underground. Scott Kirsch provides a comprehensive review of Plowshare's origins, development, and demise. He also carefully traces the growing opposition to the aec's plans. He describes his book as “a study of hubris and failure” (p. 4) and concludes by hailing the “triumph of dissent” (p. 207). Kirsch convincingly argues that promoters of Project Plowshare often demonstrated misplaced enthusiasm, unfounded optimism, and unseemly arrogance in pursuing their objectives. He suggests, less persuasively, that the aec was largely indifferent to radiation hazards. His villains are the scientists from the aec and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who actively pushed the program in the face of technological uncertainties and political opposition, even to the point of “duplicitous behavior” (p. 97). By contrast, Kirsch portrays critics of Plowshare as apolitical searchers for scientific truth.

Geodynamic processes in seismically active areas of the Tien Shan from monitoring data with the use of nuclear explosions

Recent geodynamic processes in the Tien Shan region are studied by the analysis of time series of effective velocities and traveltime delays relative to the IASPEI-91 traveltime curve of the weakly refracted wave P n from nuclear explosions at the Semipalatinsk test site over the period of 1968–1989. The time series were constructed for 10 seismic stations located at distances of 800–1200 km from the test site in the regions of the Northern, Central, and Southern Tien Shan. The twenty-year period of observations at stations in the North Tien Shan showed a significant decrease in traveltime delays by 0.20–0.76 s, which corresponds to a 0.2–0.7% increase in seismic velocities. An opposite pattern is observed at stations of the Central and Southern Tien Shan: traveltime delays increased by 0.2–0.5 s and, accordingly, seismic velocities dropped by 0.2–0.5%. These results suggest the predominance of compression processes in the crust and upper mantle during the period of observations in Northern Tien Shan and extension processes in the Central and Southern Tien Shan. The series of velocities and traveltime residuals are characterized by the presence of rhythmic oscillations of various amplitudes and periods against a linear trend. A correlation between variations in kinematic parameters and yearly numbers of earthquakes is observed at all stations. Diagrams of the spectral time analysis reveal rhythms with periods of 2–3 and 5–7 yr. The data obtained in this study are consistent with results of studying the stress-strain state of the Tien Shan crust from focal mechanisms of earthquakes and the velocities of recent crustal movements from GPS data. It is found that the amplitude of variations in kinematic parameters of the P wave at stations located in seismically active regions (the Tien Shan, Kopet Dagh, the Caucasus, Altai, and Sayany) is two to five times higher compared to aseismic regions (the Russian and Kazakh plains).

Dr. Strangelove Moves Mountains

Proving Grounds . Project Plowshare and the Unrealized Dream of Nuclear Earthmoving. By Scott Kirsch . Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, 2005. 272 pp. $39.95. ISBN 0-8135-3666-9. The author explores the two-decades-long efforts of Edward Teller and others to promote the use of nuclear explosions to construct canals, dams, harbors, and quarries.

Modeling the outdoor environment--new perspectives and challenges.

Assessing risk from manmade and naturally occurring radionuclides in the environment has long been of primary interest in radiation protection. Early investigations and decisions relied on direct measurements of radiation in environmental media; however, these techniques were inadequate for determining exposure to humans and biota from very low levels of radiation and in predicting exposures from future releases. The Plowshare Program in 1957 investigated the use of nuclear explosives for peaceful purposes and created an immediate need for predicting the dispersion and ultimate fate of radionuclides that might be vented to the atmosphere or enter groundwater and expose man. As a result, modeling the behavior of radionuclides in the outdoor environment became a field of vigorous interest, merging disciplines of mathematics, biology and physics, among others. Environmental models and, more specifically, models predicting radiation dose from radionuclides in the environment have evolved rapidly and have increased significantly in sophistication, complexity and scope. Application of these models is commonly known as radiological assessment. This presentation examines the current status, future direction and weaknesses of radiological assessment models used in making decisions about radiation. The trend in recent years has been toward more complex models, which has not necessarily improved the accuracy of dose estimates and, in certain cases, has had the opposite effect. The presentation also discusses the future of model development, with particular emphasis on simple techniques and the expanded use of microcomputers, which will make radiological assessment models widely available for risk assessment and for practical applications such as the design of efficient monitoring programs and engineering calculations on the clean-up of contaminated soils. The screening models developed by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements are offered as an example of a powerful yet simple method for demonstrating compliance with standards. Finally, the paper reviews two major areas of challenge for the future--defining uncertainty associated with radiological assessment models and the potential for converting radiological assessment models for use with nonradioactive environmental pollutants such as chemicals. Modeling radionuclides in the environment is adopting a new perspective. Future models will be less complex than their predecessors and will be adaptable to a much broader range of users. Key challenges remain in applying the techniques used for radionuclides to nonradioactive pollutants.

Editorial: Prevention of Nuclear War and Disaster Preparedness

The above contributions by Professors Chazov and Lown, the comments by Dr. Rebentisch, and the Resolutions by the WAEDM, the Red Cross and the WHO indicate that disaster medicine planning for a response to and civil defense protection in case of nuclear war is senseless, wasteful of resources (which are needed for current vital social programs worldwide), and also dangerous, by giving national leaders the impression that some individuals' medical protection in a nuclear war is possible. Most people, including some national leaders and military experts, believe that limited use of nuclear weapons would escalate to a global nuclear holocaust, and that any medical planning for nuclear war might encourage the irrational belief that nuclear was is winnable. Even if it were “winnable” the resulting death and torture of millions of innocent people and the damage of our planet's ecologic balance, make any consideration of the military use of nuclear explosions morally and medically unacceptable.

Radiation Doses from Hypothetical Exposures to Rulison Gas

Production testing of the Rulison well, the second natural gas well developed by use of nuclear explosives, was completed in April 1971. The hypothetical radiation exposure situation that would have resulted if the gas originally present in the well had been withdrawn at a rate to give 1 million ft/ sup 3//day after dehydration and C0/sub 2/ removal and the processed gas distributed by two gas companies to small communities in the area near the well is examined. Tritium and /sup 85/Kr are the principal radionuclides present in the gas from the Rulison well. The average whole body dose from inhalation and skin absorption of tritium to members of the exposed public served by one of the gas transmission comparies was estimated to be 0.6 mrem for the first year of gas use. The principal source of this hypothetical dose was exposure in the home to tritiated water vapor from cooking with unvented gas ranges. Use of unvented home heaters was not considered credible. Whole body doses from exposure to tritiated water vapor dispersed in the atmosphere of the same communities averaged 0.1 mrem for the first year. Continuing use of gas at the same rate would reduce the averagemore » dose to 0.02 mrem in the second year and to <0.01 mrem in the third year as contaminated gas in the chimney is diluted by the influx of uncontaminated gas from the surrounding formation. Whole body doses from /sup 85/ Kr were estimated to be ~2% of the tritium whole body doses. (auth)« less