standing when this nuclear device was detonated? >> oh, yes, i was standing at the control point. it was exciting to know that it went and everything worked about as we expected. >> reporter: 80-year-old milo is one of the few people you'll meet who saw not one, but nine nuclear explosions. he helped run project plow share. a program in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s to find peaceful, practical uses for low-radiation nuclear devices. >> with the tremendous energy of the peaceful atom. >> when you see what's going on in the gulf, did it come into your mind this is a perfect use for some sort of a small nuclear device? >> it certainly did. and of course knowing that the russians had done it a number of times brought it to the top of my attention. >> reporter: that's right. the russians. who successfully shut down four out of five run away gas wells by nuking them. >> the red and white is the device -- >> reporter: as seen on youtube,