Back in the Soviet Union at a gas production location there happened an underground fire. The gas-well took fire and turned into a huge flame for long three years. The problem required a solution. And it was found. They applied the most extreme and efficient method – a nuclear explosion!

Not a peaceful atom served for peace that time. On December 1st, 1963 in Uzbekistan they drilled a well at Urta-Bulak gasfield. The drill got into the earth under abnormally high pressure that reached 300 atm at its peak. The result was an emergency situation – the drillstring from 1,5 kilometers of steel pipes was pressed out from the well, and the tower with all equipment fell down. But it didn’t finish there. Right after the breakage a powerful gas jet broke out and inflamed and caused a wildfire.

Thу terrific flame, consuming twelve million m3 of gas daily, was burning for 1074 days. Engineers and rescuers were racking their brains on the solution for three years. The situation was getting only worse, the neighboring settlements were put to threat so they had to do something.

Due to the extremely high temperature it was impossible to come to the “torch” closer than 250-300 meters. The earth was getting covered with soot and very much heated. Following several vain attempts to extinguish the fire, they decided to place a nuclear explosive under the ground and explode it next to the well. Look the video below how it was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=178&v=Cp1ZLVObADE