With the news that continually comes out concerning North Korea and their nuclear ambitions, it seems like we are on edge. But did you know that Colorado has had two nuclear blasts in our state before?

While these explosions were just tests and weren't actually a rogue country targeting our beautiful state, it is still crazy to think that the ground here has been shook before by one of these explosions.

One of the explosions that has occurred before was Project Rulison, which happened in 1969 near the town of Grand Valley which we now call Parachute. The blast occurred nearly 8400 feet below the ground and was used so authorities could see if they could easily get natural gas from the ground.

While the test was successful in pulling up natural gas, it also contaminated the gas which in turn made it not useful for cooking and heating homes. Want to take a trip back in history? Check out this historical footage of the test which also explains more of why it happened:

The next test that occurred was Project Rio Blanco. This underground test took place in 1973 about 36 miles northwest of the town of Rifle.

The purpose of this test was just like Rulison, and the object was to see if natural gas could be brought up more easily than the methods properly used back then.

Want to check out the site of this test? You can just by taking the dirt road, Rio Blanco County Route 29. You can take that road to a placard at the end which marks where it all occurred.

This video will show you exactly what occurred when the test explosion happened at both sites:

 

We all hear about nuclear tests in Nevada, but did you realize that these big tests occurred not too far from us?

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