standing when this nuclear device was detonated? oh, yes. i was standing at the control point. it s exciting to know it went well and everything worked as we expected. reporter: this 80-year-old is one of the few people you will likely meet who saw not one but nine nuclear explosions. he helped run project plow share, a program in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s to find peaceful, practical uses for low radiation nuclear devices. 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 small nuclear device? it certainly did. knowing the russians have 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 runaway gas wells by niking them. the red and white is the device?
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,