Project GNOME, a 3kt nuclear shot, was detonated 1200 feet underground in a salt bed formation on December 10, 1961, near Carlsbad, New Mexico.

GNOME was the first test in the Plowshare Program that began in 1958 and continued through 1975. Between December 1961 and May 1973, the United States conducted 27 Plowshare nuclear tests comprising 35 detonations.

The Plowshare Program objectives were to determine how energy produced from nuclear sources could be used for industrial purposes. The reasoning was that the relatively inexpensive energy available from nuclear explosions could prove useful for a wide variety of peaceful purposes.

However, under pressure of economic and environmental concerns, the Plowshare Program was discontinued at the end of 1975.