Project Oilsand
Project Oilsand, also known as Project Oilsands, and originally known as Project Cauldron, was a 1958 proposal to exploit the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta via the underground detonation of up to 100 nuclear explosives; hypothetically, the heat and pressure created by an underground detonation would boil the bitumen deposits, reducing their viscosity to the point that standard oilfield techniques could be used. The proposal was devised by geologist Manley L. Natland at Los Angeles-based Richfield Oil Corporation. The project was conceived of as part of Operation Plowshare, a United States project to harness the nuclear explosions for peaceful applications. History The use of nuclear weapons for oil and gas extraction was first theorized by American geologist Manley L. Natland, of the Richfield Oil Company in 1956. Natland was working on location in the southern desert of Saudi Arabia and contemplated using the immense heat of a nuclear explosion while watching the sun set. Natland posited that drilling a deep borehole and detonating a nuclear weapon would result in an immense release of heat and energy which would crush and melt surrounding rock, separate oil from sand, and create an underground cavity where the oil would pool for conventional extraction.