Project Gnome Atomic Explosion Site

Project Gnome Atomic Explosion Site

About 30 miles southeast of Carlsbad, Project Gnome was the site of New Mexico’s first underground nuclear explosion.

The test was conducted on December 10, 1961, as part of Project Plowshare, a Cold War program that explored peaceful uses for nuclear explosives. Scientists hoped to learn whether the heat from an underground nuclear blast could be captured to generate electricity, produce useful radioactive isotopes, and better understand how nuclear explosions behaved inside massive salt deposits.

A roughly 3-kiloton nuke was detonated 1,184 feet underground in the Salado Formation. The explosion vaporized surrounding rock and created a large underground cavity. The test did not remain completely contained, however. Sealing materials failed shortly after the explosion and radioactive gases escaped through the tunnel and emplacement shaft.

Five months later, scientists reentered the underground workings and became some of the first people to physically enter a cavity created by a nuclear explosion. Preparations later began for a second test called Project Coach, including additional tunnels, but the experiment was eventually canceled and no second nuclear device was detonated here.

Several rounds of cleanup followed, and the underground shaft was eventually sealed. Today, little remains on the surface to suggest that a nuclear weapon was once detonated more than 1,000 feet below the desert.

Project Gnome is interesting for its history rather than what remains to see. It is a remnant of Cold War New Mexico and an interesting stop for anyone exploring the state’s atomic history.