[DCBryan1]

We had a plan for using 50 or so 200kt nukes to create a larger, longer "new" Panama Canal through the lakes of Niceruagua IIRC. The studies concluded that there would be minimal radation effects because of the depths of the explosion and the impermiable sediment.

Basically, they were going bottom dredge using nukes.

[DCBryan1]

Niceruagua

Holy guacamole! Nicaragua

[eldoradude]

We had a plan for using 50 or so 200kt nukes to create a larger, longer "new" Panama Canal through the lakes of Niceruagua IIRC. The studies concluded that there would be minimal radation effects because of the depths of the explosion and the impermiable sediment. Basically, they were going bottom dredge using nukes.

The Plowshares program...

I believe I recall the old Soviet Union actually experimenting with some nuclear civil engineering...that would have been an interesting degree.

Maybe somebody could renew the idea and use surplus H-bombs to dredge canals throughout the middle east so the desert could be irrigated and more trees could grow to capture carbon and thereby save the earth from global warming.

[D Rider]

We had the same plan to cut through the mountaind between CA and NV in the 50’s. The project was approved but left unfunded, as we entered a cold war frenzy.