Could an atomic bomb, exploded underground, melt an underground salt deposit? The Atomic Energy Commission believed that it could -- and if it could, then the superhot salt, safely buried, could turn nearby water into steam that could then be piped to turbines to generate electricity! That was the idea anyway.
On December 10, 1967, a 29-kiloton bomb was exploded almost a mile underground here, which knocked observers off of their feet over two miles away. The steam that was produced was too radioactive to ever be used, and the ground was so contaminated that it had to be hauled away -- or most of it, anyway. Today, ground zero is marked by a plaque on a small concrete block in the middle of an otherwise peaceful field, and you're warned not to dig anywhere.
