Project Chariot: The US Government's Plan To Nuke Alaska SIX Times
Joe Scott
Jul 6, 2026 16:02
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Operation Plowshare was a US Government program in the 1950s that had the goal of finding peaceful uses for nuclear weapons. And yes, you read that right. It was partly a sincere effort to find practical uses for the most awesome power humanity had ever harnessed, and partly a cynical attempt to justify stockpiling nukes. One of those Plowshare projects was called Project Chariot, which aimed to create a new harbor in Alaska by setting off SIX hydrogen bombs in a river inlet near Cape Thompson. This is the story of that insane idea.
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LINKS LINKS LINKS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads
https://groundtruthalaska.org/articles/ProjectChariot/
https://st.llnl.gov/news/look-back/plowshare-program
https://www.osti.gov/opennet/reports/plowshar.pdf
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/actual-1950s-proposal-nuke-alaska
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gnome_(nuclear_test))
https://www.nps.gov/people/manhattan-project-scientists-edward-teller.htm
https://www.uaf.edu/tribal/academics/112/unit-2/alaskastatehoodandbuilduptoalaskanativelandclaims.php
https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/were-going-to-work-miracles/
https://www.atomicarchive.com/history/cold-war/page-6.html
https://nuclearprinceton.princeton.edu/project-chariot
https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/slideshows/counties-with-the-highest-cancer-rates-in-the-us?slide=3
https://alaskapublic.org/news/2014-08-09/as-project-chariot-clean-up-ends-legacy-lingers-for-point-hope
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1992/12/06/053092.html?pageNumber=26
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