Alexis Madrigal lists what he calls 7 (crazy) civilian uses for nuclear bombs. I’m not sure they’re crazy so much as they’re optimistic:
- Creating a harbor
- Creating a new Panama Canal
- Exploring for natural gas
- Mining oil shale
- Disposing of nuclear waste
- Human space flight
- Defending Earth from an asteroid
A modern audience seems to assume that a controlled nuclear blast will poison the land forever. Even an accident like the meltdown at Chernobyl has had little discernible long-term impact.