("El Magicia" by Kevin MacLeod)
- [Voiceover] Number 10, the Davy Crockett.
The Davy Crockett was a tactical nuclear weapon
that was designed to be used on the battlefield.
This bizarre launching device is
the smallest nuclear weapon system ever built.
The U.S. Department of Defense
hoped that the Davy Crockett could be
used by soldiers to eliminate enemy defenses
with a tiny nuclear blast.
In 1956, around 2,000 models
of this bizarre weapons platform were produced
and the Davy Crockett even stayed
in service until 1971.
This video shows the Davy Crockett in action.
- [Voiceover] The round was set for
(explosion) a low height of burst.
It detonated perfectly, releasing its lethal radiation.
- [Voiceover] Number nine, the Orion Pulse Drive.
The Orion Pulse Drive was a propulsion system
that used a series of nuclear detonations
to propel a spaceship to speeds
that would make interplanetary travel possible.
Tests were conducted and it was found that
The Orion Pulse Drive was entirely feasible
and a very cost-effective way to explore space.
The designers of the ship even worked with
The Coca-Cola company to design a massive vending machine
that could hold nuclear warheads.
NASA even entertained the Orion Pulse Drive as
an option for powering a manned mission to Mars
until the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
put an end to the Orion Pulse Drive.
An Orion Pulse Drive could reach the nearest star
in just 100 years.
The estimated cost of building such a ship
is about 367 billion dollars
and although that may sound high,
it's important to remember that the Iraq War
cost the United States over 1.7 trillion dollars.
Number eight, to create a lake.
In 1965, the Soviet Union
decided to use nuclear weapons
to solve their agricultural problems.
Their first and only attempt took place
at Lake Chagan in modern day Kazakhstan,
but I'll let this Soviet narrator explain.
- [Voiceover] The Soviet Union
has plenty of arid regions.
In the summer months, rains are scarce here,
which is often the reason for poor crop yields,
but in the winter, a thick blanket of snow
covers the fields.
To collect and preserve floodwater,
craters can be used, excavated
by underground nuclear explosions.
This is a story of one such pilot project,
located on a river in an arid region.
(fast classical music)
In this project, an underground cratering explosion
was used to dig a reservoir
to contain six million cubic meters of floodwater.
A few seconds before the explosion.
(clock ticking)
(explosion)
The blast excavated more than
ten million cubic meters of geological material.
(upbeat music)
A few days later, there were already
some six million cubic meters of water in the crater.
The project, this country's first,
proved that underground nuclear explosions
can be used to excavate water reservoirs
in isolated areas in short time.
- [Voiceover] Doesn't that sound nice?
It's too bad the lake is still irradiated.
Number seven, to put out a fire.
This gas-well fire is another brilliant example
of the Soviet Union using nuclear weapons
to solve their problems,
but I'll let the creepy Soviet narrator explain.
(fire burning)
- [Voiceover] This gas-well fire roared out of control
at one of the natural gas deposits in this country.
The giant torch consumed nearly
10 million cubic meters of valuable fuel a day.
It was decided to choke the well
by a contained underground nuclear explosion.
A nuclear explosion was to be set off
in plastic geological material
below gas-impermeable strata.
Now the flame and nuclear charge
are left alone, face to face.
(explosion)
The camera feels the impact of the detonation
and the gasoline begins to subside.
Let us now take a look at what
has actually happened deep down below.
The shock wave of explosion
can pass this around in geological material
and pushed it aside, blocking the flow of gas.
The well was plugged by crushed rock.
It took only 23 seconds to do the job.
A contained underground nuclear explosion
has helped to save large quantities of valuable gas
for our national economy.
(upbeat classical music)
- [Voiceover] Number 6, atomic landmines.
Long before the public became
fearful of suitcase nukes,
the U.S. designed and built small nuclear bombs
to hide behind enemy lines.
Weighing 400 pounds, the atomic landmine
wasn't easily portable,
but proved to be an effective nuclear landmine.
It was later decided that leaving mines
with nuclear warheads in the soil
probably wasn't the best idea
and the project was abandoned.
Number five, Starfish Prime.
In 1962, researchers in the Department of Defense
wanted to conduct a test on nuclear detonations
beyond the earth's atmosphere.
No nation had detonated
nuclear warheads in space before,
and no one knew exactly what was going to happen.
The detonations caused by Operation Starfish Prime
let out an EMP burst far larger
than anyone had anticipated.
The pulse knocked out hundreds of streetlights
and disabled phone lines in Hawaii.
It destroyed six satellites
and even created an artificial Aurora.
Because of these side effects,
nuclear weapons were never again tested in space.
Number four, to study mushroom clouds.
When the British were testing
their first Hydrogen bombs,
they wanted to study the radioactive particles
inside of a nuclear mushroom cloud.
They coated a plane in wax
to capture radioactive particles.
The British authorities then ordered test pilots
to fly these planes through a mushroom cloud
immediately after a detonation.
When one test pilot's plane
passed through a mushroom cloud,
he noticed radioactive rain
falling on the wings of his jet.
Unfortunately, the test pilot later
developed cancer seven times
and his children also have genetic diseases,
but to this day the British government claims
there's no way to know for sure
if the radiation from the test was responsible.
Number three, the Nuke Cannon.
In the early 1950s, the United States
figured out a way to fire a nuke
from a modified railroad cannon.
It had a range of just 20 miles
and was fired just once.
The atomic cannon or "Atomic Annie"
was obsolete the second it arrived in Europe
and the U.S. military officials
figured out it was a better idea
to deliver nuclear payloads with airplanes and missiles.
Number two, Operation Plowshare.
Project Plowshare was a U.S. project
to develop techniques to use nuclear explosives
for peaceful construction.
The designers of Operation Plowshare
hoped to use nuclear weapons to gain access
to deep pockets of natural gas
and to create Alaskan harbors in an instant.
Unfortunately, tests for this project released
dangerous amounts of fallout into the atmosphere
and irradiated drinking water
into the Nevada desert.
Due to a public outcry, the project was abandoned.
Number one, world peace.
The strangest use of nuclear weapons
is actually an unintended result of their creation.
It can be argued nuclear weapons have done
far more for world peace than even the United Nations.
Thanks to a fear of mutually assured destruction,
nations have realized that going directly to war
is no longer worth the cost and as a result,
the decades after World War II have been
the most peaceful decades in human history.
This is no coincidence.
Historians have noted that countries with nukes
never attack other countries with nukes
and the only wars fought today
are small local conflicts
between non-nuclear states.
(upbeat music)
Thank you all for watching.
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