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into thc nuclear wea pons dub. To
be sure, the technology needed for a
peaccful ex plosion is virtually iden–
tical to th at needed for a military
nuclea r bomb. Yet many scientists
believe that there is at least a possi–
bility or using nuclear bombs fo r a
wide variety of pcaceful projects.
Unclergrou nd nuclear explosions
could, in the opi nion of some, pre–
pare shal e oil ror
in situ
process ing.
stimulate the ftow of natural gas. or
create storage caverns for natural
gas and oil.
By far the most ambitiou appli–
cation of such peaceful nukes is
Projcct Pacer. 1n the Pacer tech–
niq ue. thermonuclear devices would
be fired inside huge partly wate r–
filled cavities leached out of salt
dome . Through the use of a heat
cxchanger.
th~
radioactive steam
from the cavity would be used to
makc sccondary steam to operate
conventional turbines.
For a 2.000-megawatt facility, two
50-kiloton nukes would be deto–
nated each day, or roughly 750 each
year. a ll within the same cavity!
Some experts challenge whether
th ere are really any benefits to be
gaincd from peaceful nuclear ex–
plosions. William Epstein, Special
Fellow at the United Nations Insti–
tute for Training and Research. is
skeptical about it. "Such operations
would be cxt remely costly as well as
haza rdous." explains Epstein, "and
no practica! way of dealing with the
radioactive by-products has ye t
been discovered."
Perhaps Epstein is correct: per–
ha ps such projects as the Pacer
"shortcut" to fusion energy may
face insuperable technical problems.
But the very idea of quite literally
taming the stupendous power of the
hydrogen bomb cannot help but
bring to mind the words of Genesis
11 :6: "And now nothing will be re–
strai ned from them, which they
have imagined todo.' '
Mushrooming Prolíferation
Of course. it was inevitable that
other nations would seek to utilize
th c services of the atomic genie. The
U.S.S.R. officially "went nuclear''
wi th an A-bomb explosion in 1949.
20
and since thcn. four other countries
- Britain. Frunce. China. and India
- have joincd the nuclear weapon
club.
But a t least until recently. there
remained a certain mild optimism
that ·'pre:.surc" from the super–
powers (and international agree–
ment s likc th c
uclear Non –
Proliferation Treaty) could success–
fully hold thc line at five or six nu–
clear wcapons powcrs. Even if many
"nuclea r-wcapons-ca pable" coun–
tri es ex isted. it was hoped that none
would opt ror a tomi c wcapons.
Today. that optimism no longer
exists. uclcar cxpcrts almost unan–
imously expect that there wi ll soon
be nuclear-wcapon-powcred nations
number 7. 8. 9. and 10. and even–
tually number. 20, 30 and 40.
This cxpecta tion. according to
nuclear authority Lin co ln P.
Bloomficld. "could be a snowba ll–
ing. fa talistic belief that becomes a
se lf-fulfilling prophecy unless it is
countcred by a different belief that
is equally potent." Yet given recent
dcvc lopmcn ts. such as the detona–
tion of a nuclea r "device" by India.
and th e fact that 19 nations already
have 149 power-producing reac tors
and 23 other countrics have plants
undcr construction or on the draw–
ing board ·, it is hard to find much to
be optimi tic abou t.
The Fifth Horseman?
"Widespread weapons proliferation
is ureto foll ow on the heels of com–
mercial nucl ea r power facilities."
contends Deni Hayes. senior re–
searcher a t the Worldwatch lnstitute
and au thor of a recent report called
"N uclcar Powcr: the Fifth Horse–
man.·• "The world 's nuclear arsenal
already con tains the equivalent of
25 bi l lion tons of TNT." adds
Hayes. ''With each additional finger
on the nuclear trigge r. the chances
of an accidental or intentional nu–
clear war grows greater." Of course.
no country want to be placed in a
position
Of
perceived inferiority
lO
others. If a neighbor ora ri val coun–
try goe nuclear. a trcmendous pres–
sure is exerted to do likewise. As a
result. more and more nations real–
izc thc potcntial psychologica l. po–
litica l and economic values of
enlisting th c power of the a tomic
genic.
Red China. for example. was de–
liberatcly ignored by the grea t pow–
ers until
~he
\\'Cnt nuclear. a t which
time China· internat iona l stock
rose precipitously. Little wonder
then that in in troducing a bill call–
ing on the Argentine gove rnment to
build a nuclear bomb. one legislator
declared: ··Recent event. have dem–
onstrated that nations gai n increas–
ing recognition in the interna tional
arena in accordance wi th their
powcr."
Much a ttenti on has been give n to
the possibility of countries tak ing
th e nuclear option on the sly or un–
cler the guise of "peaceful" research.
But incrcasingly the probability
looms that a nation will
open~r
de–
cide to acquirc nuclear weapons ca–
pability for reasons \\hich. since
time immemorial. have driven na–
tion!>
to
~cck
pre:,tige. inftuence.
power. ami equali ty.
In a world where dozens of na–
tions have nuclear weapons. thc
danger or atomic warfarc increases
drastically. Apa rt from the danger
of the outbreak ofsuch nucl ear war
by design. there is the more likely
possibility of its ha ppening as the
result of accidcnt. mi sca lculation . or
shee r madness.
·• ¡
would likc to rcmi nd you of an
old but pertinent story." observes
Dr. Edward Teller. one of the sages
of nuclear energy. "Adam a te the
applc of knowledge and was ex–
pelled from paradise.
It
is true that
al! knowledge i dangerou . lt
is
also
true th at wc must work hard. usi ng
ou r heads and hea rts as well as our
hand , if knowlcdgc is to bear good
fruit.
It
i
NOT
true tha t we should
ab tain from knowledge or from the
practica! applicat ions of this knowl–
edge."
Dr. Fred Ikle. director of the U.S.
Arms Con trol and Disa rmament
Agency, puts it somewhat differ–
ent ly. ''lt is a if mankind has been
burdened by a curse:· says Ikle.
'·Thc fruit of the Tree of Knowledge
- the great accomplishment of ou r
nuclear scienti:.t - holds both
promisc and thrcat: it can keep
alive our civi lization and it can de–
stroy it. ' '
For good or cvi l. thc atomic genie
has escapecl from the lamp. "Choose
life o r death." says the Genie.
"whatsoever plcascth thce."
o
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1976