Science: Peaceful Gnome

Fallout from the latest and largest Soviet nuclear test was still drifting toward the U.S. last week when President Kennedy gave the go-ahead signal for Project Gnome, the Atomic Energy Commission's long-planned underground experiment in the peaceful applications of nuclear energy. Southeast of Carlsbad, N.Mex., a shaft has already been sunk 1,200 ft. in the ground to penetrate a thick formation of rock salt. From the shaft's bottom, a 1,116-ft. horizontal tunnel leads into the salt and curves back on itself in a giant hook. At the tip of the hook a small...