PEACEFUL ATOM USE

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30045, 1 February 1963, Page 8

PEACEFUL ATOM USE

Ditch-Digging Scheme

(N^P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Jan. 30.

The United States hopes to set off five nuclear explosions simultaneously later this year to dig an experimental ditch nearly half a mile long, like a section of a canal.

The project was outlined today in the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s annual report to Congress. It forms part of the United States “Ploughshare" programme to develop the peaceful uses of nuclear explosives. The A.E.C. said the ditchdigging scheme would involve use of a row of five nuclear charges each with a yield of about 10 kilotons, the equivalent of 10,000 tone of TN.T. “It is expected that the elongated ditch will be about 2300 feet long. 700 feet wide, and 125 feet deep, with a pronounced ridge of ejected material along each side," the report said. The excavation experiment was planned for the AE.C.’s Nevada test site and probably would take place in 1963 The A.E.C. plans to prove in the next five years that it is practical, safe, and cheap to gouge canals, dig harbours, and blast mineral * wealth from the earth with nuclear explosions. The A.E.C. said it already had proved that underground atomic blasts were a "versatile tool." comparable to the atom smasher for peace-time scientific research.

Funeral.—The funeral of Mr Walton A Cole, the general manager of Reuters, who died suddenly on Friday, took place today at Golders Green Crematorium, London.—London, Jan. 30.