>>133968 Initial plan in 1963 One path studied took a straighter line through the Negev Desert hills, another path studied went North through the Arabah valley and cut west before the Dead Sea basin through the hills and curves North again above the Gaza Strip. In July 1963, the United States Department of Energy and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory created a classified document that outlined a plan to use 520 buried nuclear explosions to help in the excavation process through the hills in the Negev Desert. The document was declassified in 1993.[3][4]
