Noble force of the explosions.

Sometime in the mid 60's the Soviet Union started to look seriously at what atomic bombs could do other than barbeque enemies. Originally it examined the same 2 objectives as the American Ploughshares program- nuclear "landscaping" and oil extraction. Frighteningly named "Program No. 7, Nuclear explosions for the national economy" it soon grew to take on at least a half dozen more uses for this power. One idea was to move asteroids. No details on what that means.

The first real use of the bombs was to cap runaway oil and gas wells. It was a success. Now they felt that this could actually be a viable business. The Soviets set off 122 nuclear explosions from about 1965 to 1989.

I had a look at the list and there are some ho hum shots and others just don't sound good at all. For instance theres the Water Reservoir Construction project. A bomb was set off and the ensuing hole left to fill with water. But what about the Toxic Oil Field Waste Disposal shot? Hmmm, maybe the toxic waste is ok after all. And here's the one I like- The Decoupling Experiment.

In actual fact the toxic waste disposal was as simple as the reservoir construction. A bomb was set off deep undergound and the hole it produced became a holding tank for the crap. Apprently, some are still in use.

The decoupling was nothing more than attempts to isolate the seismic vibrations all the explosions created so nosy parker US wouldn't know what uncle Joe was up to.

If you have the time, energy and would like to read a fairly technical summary of the entire Soviet peaceful nuclear program check out the link from the US Department of Energy's web site. Its actually quite well written.

http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cover.jsp?purl=/793554-ZAQEpq/native/