The Gasbuggy Nuclear Oil Test site is the location of the first jointly sponsored nuclear explosion by government and industry. Located in Carson National Forest in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, a plaque now marks the site to memorialize the explosion.

In 1967 a 29 kiloton nuclear device exploded at the bottom of an almost mile deep shaft. The explosion extracted more natural gas than a non-nuclear explosion, or wells that were already in place would extract. The U.S. Department of Interior and the El Paso Natural Gas Company jointly sponsored the experiment which went mostly as planned. However, the gas extracted was too radioactive to be used.

Overseen by the Atomic Energy Commission and conducted by the Lawrence Radiation lab, the explosion was a part of the Plowshare Program also known as Atoms for Peace. The biblically named program developed peaceful uses for nuclear weapons.

Decommissioned and demobilized in 1978 by the Atomic Energy Commission, the commission (now known as the Department of Energy) monitored and maintained the radioactive contamination at Gasbuggy test site until 2006 when the Office of Legacy Management took over.

The nuclear explosion tested the viability of using a nuclear device to aid in natural gas extraction. Although the idea of releasing much more gas than a well worked, overall it was ineffective. Gasbuggy, like many other Project Plowshare programs, intended to aid, but failed to work as envisioned.