In 1957, the US Atomic Energy Commission launched Project Plowshare, which aimed to discover peaceful uses for nuclear explosives. The next year they announced Project Chariot, a plan to strategically detonate nuclear explosives near Cape Thompson (part of Alaska's North Slope) and create an artificial deepwater harbor. The harbor was pitched as both a valuable research and economic opportunity, being in an optimal location for transportation of natural resources from northern Alaska to the rest of the state and country.