" THE ATOM UNDERGROUND " NUCLEAR FRACKING OF NATURAL GAS ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION 32212

Produced by Handel Film Corporation, “The Atom…Underground” is a 1960s color documentary film profiling Project Gasbuggy and Project Plowshare, which were ill-fated attempts to demonstrate the use of nuclear detonations for peaceful purposes, in this case extracting more oil and natural gas from underground through nuclear fracking. 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).

Pumpjacks in oil field (0:25). Apparatus for mining resources underground (0:42). Title page (0:57). Montage everyday uses of natural gas: Stove burner turned on in restaurant, at home (1:06). Animated demo showing strata diagram, how natural gasses are retrieved from reservoir (1:21). Illustrated view of gas in rock reservoir under microscope; Demo continues to show how gas is extracted through well; Old method of detonating nitroglycerin (2:06). Search for new more efficient methods: Exterior of United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) building, new research program for peaceful uses of nuclear explosions called “Plowshare” (1957) (3:07). “Let Us Beat Swords Into Ploughshares” bronze sculpture by Yevgeny Vuchetich in United Nations garden (3:32). Engineers rollout easily transportable device for underground nuclear explosions (3:55). Animated portion to illustrate how new device will accomplish things never before possible; Comparison between nuclear explosive capabilities and regular TNT (4:15). Santa Fe Freight Train transporting coal (5:26). First experiment using atomic explosion for industrial purposes: Project Gasbuggy (New Mexico), device lowered into well by engineers, aerial view of people gathered to observe explosion (December 1967) (5:36). Representatives from AEC, El Paso Corp., Bureau of Mines of US Department of Interior (6:11). Sign for Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at University of California (6:25). Animated/ live-footage segment explaining findings from Gasbuggy explosion; Oil well sites and labs (6:31). Second experiment using atomic explosion for industrial purposes: Project Rulison (Colorado); Supervised by Austral Oil Company (7:46). Pumpjack, segment on ways atomic explosion can improve flow of oil (8:26). Using atomic energy for storage of natural gas and oil; Animation depicting how this is possible (8:56). Shot of above ground storage facility (9:34). Underground storage facility (9:40). Plowshare program brochures (9:45). Illustrated diagram showing how underground chimneys caused by underground nuclear explosion aid with storage of gas, water, waste (9:51). Map showing abundance of oil shale in United States; Developing economical methods to remove oil out of shale (11:04). Phases of conventional production methods of oil shale: Mining, retorting (heating supply) - shot of above ground retorting equipment (11:55). Illustrated diagram explaining production of oil shale using new underground explosion method (12:21). Benefit of underground nuclear explosions on mining industry: Chimney of rubble, conventional mining techniques to recover material (12:50). Footage of copper manufactured into different products in factory (13:24). Illustrated diagram explaining process of “leaching” (extracting minerals from ore) (13:49). Project Sloop: Part of Plowshare Program, use of marginal sources, developed alongside Kennecott Copper Corporation (14:24). Illustrated diagram demoing advances to copper production using underground explosion method (14:33). Impact of this method on scientific discovery, discovering new elements and production of isotopes: Footage of men installing core samplers, neutron wheel deep underground (15:09). Nuclear reactors in scientific laboratory; Nuclear physicists transforming one element into another (15:33). An alchemist in his laboratory oil painting by follower of David Teniers the younger (16:39). Discovery of Fermium 257, shot of Enrico Fermi (16:57). Albert Einstein, Mass–energy equivalence and its application to underground explosion (17:07). Safety precautions at detonation sites: Radiation monitoring and analysis of weather conditions using weather balloon; Constant monitoring using well bores and instrument pipes (17:33). Distant shot of above ground nuclear explosion - illustrated diagrams of what these are used for i.e. creation of mountain passes, harbors, water management, surface mining (18:25). Nuclear physicists making calculations on black board (19:09). IBM 7090 computer, IBM 729 magnetic tape unit (19:17). Closing credits (19:44). Film ends (19:55).

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com