Project Rio Blanco Nuclear Test Site in Rio Blanco County, Colorado
Thursday, June 25, 2026View original
In 1973 as part of Project Plowshare the US Department of Energy detonated a set of three nuclear bombs down a natural gas well at this site north of Rifle, Colorado.
The project was intended to demonstrate peaceful uses of nuclear weapons by producing natural gas, but was generally regarded as a failure. Surface monitoring in the decades since the experiment have found no elevated radiation.
Each 33-kiloton bomb was less than 8 inches wide to fit down a standard well, but over 30 feet long and were placed 5,838, 6,230, and 6,689 feet below ground (below sea level).