Plowshare Symposium, 1964: Engineering with Nuclear Explosives Page: 1
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INTRODUCTION
Richard Hamburger
U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
Division of Peaceful Nuclear Explosives
Washington, D. C.One of the measures of man's material pro-
gress is the amount of energy at his disposal.
Early man had only his muscles to do work for
him. Then domesticated animals furnished addi-
tional energy which could be used for his welfare.
Mechanical inventions such as the wheel, the
wedge, and the pulley added efficiency to this use
of muscle power. The harnessing of water power
to the wheel provided man with additional energy.
Today energy from many sources are available.
One family of important energy sources is explo-
sion. For instance I drove to this meeting in a
car powered by exploding gasoline. Let's look
briefly at the history of explosions.
Gunpowder, the granddaddy of all explosives
was probably known by the Chinese as early as
1000 AD(1), quite late in time as the history of
mankind goes. By 1259 they were using gunpowder
in a bamboo gun. In 1250 AD Roger Bacon, an
English monk, discovered how to mix saltpeter
with charcoal and sulphur to make black powder,
and within a few years, the cannon was invented,
followed in time by hand held firearms. Demand
for these arms required a greater supply of iron
and brass, which in turn simulated mining activi-
ties. In 1627, 377 years after Roger Bacon first
made his black powder, a Hungarian engineer,
Kaspar Weindl first used it for peaceful purposes.
He placed the black powder in the cracks in the
rock. His blast broke as much rock as the miners
could break in many days. It is interesting to note
that the value of Weindl's discovery was increased
many times over by the associated activities which
allowed the miner to use this discovery efficiently
and to handle the extra ore that was broken. Thus
rock drills replaced picks and wedges. Haulage
was improved to handle the increasing volume of
(1) One Thousand Years of Explosives by
William S. Dutton, 1960ore which became available. Increased efficiency
allowed the mining of lower grade ores. The abil-
ity to mine lower grade ores meant that the total
resources available for use were increased many
times.
In 1846 nitroglycerin was discovered. By
1860 Nobel discovered how to produce nitroglyc-
erin in quantity. In 1866 he discovered how to
make dynamite. During World War I TNT came
into use.
There are today many types of high and low
explosives in use, from nitroglycerin to fertilizer
grade ammonium nitrate. There are solid explo-
sives, jellied explosives, and liquid explosives.
Explosives come packaged in cartridges pellets,
powder, and like putty so that it can be shaped.
Although most explosives are used in mining,
quarrying, and construction their versatility is
great. Explosives are used to start reluctant oil
wells flowing. Farmers use explosives to remove
tree stumps and to dig ditches. In production proc-
esses they are used for the explosive forming of
metals. Small charges help rescuers find those
lost at sea. The geologist and geophysicist use
explosives as seismic sources to learn about the
structure of the earth and to locate oil fields. One
could go on for quite a while.
In 1945 the first nuclear explosive was de-
tonated (2). Like chemical explosives nuclear ex-
plosives will eventually have many obvious peace-
ful uses. When in 1627 Weindl made the first
peaceful use of black powder he started a whole
new technology. So when you think of peaceful
uses for nuclear explosives think of them not only
as larger sticks of powder, though they are also
that, but as the start of a new technology, I am
sure that some of the greatest benefits of nuclear
(2) The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, April
1962, p. 6721
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Plowshare Symposium, 1964: Engineering with Nuclear Explosives, report, 1964?; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc784228/m1/11/?q=%22Chemistry%22&rotate=90: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.