|
|
|
Book Review
| Proving Grounds: Project Plowshare and the Unrealized Dream of Nuclear Earthmoving. By Scott Kirsch. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2005. xi + 257pp. Photos, maps, figure, tables. $39.95.
|
| In the late 1960s, in a last attempt to rescue Project Plowshare from scientific, political, and other pressures that spelled its demise, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory enlisted the Army Corps of Engineers to support nuclear excavation of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway through northwest Mississippi using over eighty nuclear bombs of 10 to 50 kt yield each. The planned canal ran within fifty miles of 340,000 people, a detail that Plowshare scientists underplayed even though previous Plowshare tests indicated the persistent problem of venting of radioactive gases and dust against predictions. In Proving Grounds, David Kirsch discusses the history of Project Plowshare, the U.S. effort to employ nuclear bombs to build harbors and canals, overburden removal, railroad and highway cuts, dams, reservoirs, and the political and environmental issues surrounding Plowshare. |
1
|
|
This is a marvelous book. Thoroughly researched using archival materials and extensive interviews, well written, engaging and measured in tone, the book raises a series of important issues about the nature of modern science. Those issues include what makes for scientific truth, the nature of evidence, how is science funded, and the impact of secrecy on the conduct of research. Kirsch is restrained in discussing the hubris and disingenuousness of Plowshare scientists and their projects, carefully exploring their motivations and rationale on the basis of their own words and standards. |
. . . |
There are about 503 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|
