Project Thunderbird

Project Thunderbird was a 1967 proposal by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), part of the larger Project Plowshare initiative, which explored using nuclear explosives for public works and industrial development. The project aimed to gasify deep coalbeds in situ underground in Wyoming's Powder River Basin by detonating nuclear devices to create a "rubble chimney." This chimney would allow controlled combustion of pulverized coal into combustible gas, potentially producing oil-equivalent energy.

The project was proposed near Gillette, Wyoming, targeting the Fort Union-Wasatch Formation. Two detonation scenarios were considered: a 50-kiloton explosion creating a 127-foot radius and 635-foot-high chimney, and a one-megaton explosion预计 to create a larger chimney with a 310-foot radius and 1,200-foot height. The latter would fracture coalbeds over a wider area and increase gas yield.

Initial enthusiasm for the project waned after a 1969 analysis by Gibbs & Hill, Inc., which deemed it economically unviable due to high development costs relative to expected production. No test site was identified, and the project was abandoned. Further exploration in the area has focused on gas projects rather than nuclear coal gasification.