Rulison

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Project Rulison, named after the rural community of Rulison, Colorado, was a 43-kiloton nuclear test project in the United States on September 10, 1969, about 8 miles SE of the town of Grand Valley, Colorado (now named Parachute, Colorado) near western Colorado's Grand Valley in Garfield County. The U. S. Dept. of Energy lists its location as 39 21' 21.6"N 107 56' 56.4"W. It was part of the Operation Mandrel weapons test series as well as the Operation Plowshare project which explored uses of nuclear explosions. The peaceful aim of Project Rulison was to determine if natural gas could be easily liberated from underground regions.

After the test, the natural gas that was extracted was determined to be too radioactive to be sold commercially. The surface of the site began to be cleaned up by the Department of Energy in the 1970s, and was completed in 1998. A buffer zone put in place by the state of Colorado still exists around the area. A January 2005 report by the DOE stated that radioactivity levels were normal at the surface and in groundwater, though a later report due in 2007 is expected to more fully explore if there is subsurface contamination and whether or not radioactivity is still spreading outward from the blast site itself.

The Houston, Texas-based company Presco is seeking to drill for natural gas within the buffer zone as of June 2005, putting in as many as four wells. The company had initially received approval to drill one well, but the county dropped its support when more extensive plans were revealed.

The only other nuclear test to take place in Colorado, 1973's Project Rio Blanco (39 47' 34.8"N 108 22' 04.8"W), also had similar aims.