Project Gnome: The Environment Created by a Nuclear Explosion in Salt

Project Gnome was a 1961 underground nuclear test conducted near Carlsbad, New Mexico, as part of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Project Plowshare. This volume represents the official technical report summarizing the environmental and geological data gathered from the experiment, which was the first nuclear detonation designed to explore peaceful applications for nuclear explosives, such as power generation or large-scale excavation.

The report was compiled by researchers at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory to document the physical changes within the salt bed where the device was detonated. It focuses on the thermodynamics and radioactive distribution within the cavity, providing a clinical, data-heavy analysis characteristic of Cold War-era government scientific publications. It remains a significant primary source for historians studying the intersection of nuclear technology and civil engineering initiatives during the mid-twentieth century.