The largest excavation experiment took place in 1962 at the Department of Energy 's Nevada Test Site . The Sedan nuclear test carried out as part of Operation Storax displaced 12 million tons of earth , creating the largest man-made crater in the world , generating a large nuclear fallout over Nevada and Utah . Three tests were conducted in order to stimulate natural gas production , but the effort was abandoned as impractical because of cost and radioactive contamination of the gas
Sedan nuclear test
Sedan (nuclear test)
Peaceful nuclear explosion