On December 1, 1963, a gas release and ignition occurred at the Urta-Bulak field in Uzbekistan and the resulting fire was exting

On December 1, 1963, a gas release and ignition occurred at the Urta-Bulak field in Uzbekistan and the resulting fire was extinguished by an underground nuclear explosion For three years, the flames consumed up to 12 million m³ of natural gas daily. People couldn’t approach the flames closer than 250-300 meters. Efforts to control the fire included firefighters using water to knock down the gas flare, and the military bombing the fire source from helicopters and artillery, but the situation only worsened. After three futile years, scientists conceived the idea of using an underground nuclear explosion to both extinguish the fire and avoid contaminating the environment with radiation. Thus, for the first time globally, the Soviet Union employed the “Nuclear Explosions for National Economy“ program to address a significant man-made disaster. Subsequently, underground nuclear explosions were utilized to mitigate potent gas emissions, and Kazakhstan’s nuclear explosion created an artificial lake. Источник: Slavyangrad