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The US software engineer’s non-peer-reviewed idea sparked debate among climate scientists and ethicists.
Andy Haverly, 25, in his paper, suggested detonating a nuke in the Southern Ocean. (Representative Image)
In a controversial proposal, a 25-year-old Microsoft software engineer suggested detonating an 81-gigaton nuclear bomb beneath the ocean floor to accelerate carbon sequestration and curb climate change. The idea, published in January 2025 on arXiv, a repository for non-peer-reviewed research, aimed to use geoengineering on a historic scale to tackle the escalating climate emergency.
Andy Haverly, who is currently pursuing a PhD in quantum computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, argued pulverising underwater basalt rock through such an explosion could enhance natural carbon-absorbing processes.
Haverly, in his paper, proposed detonating the bomb between three and five kilometres beneath the seabed of the remote Kerguelen Plateau in the Southern Ocean, where surrounding waters are 6 to 8 km deep.
The engineer explained that his idea was built on Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), a process wherein carbon dioxide reacts with rock to form stable carbonates. He said the goal of detonating the nuke is to trigger the reaction on an unprecedented scale. He said it would “store up to 30 years’ worth of global CO₂ emissions.”
He credited Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer for inspiring his ideas on the often-untapped potential of nuclear technology. He told Vice that watching the Nolan flick brought nuclear power “front and centre” in his mind. He said combining concepts like ERW and underground detonations has not been considered seriously until now.
However, his plans did come under scrutiny from sustainability researchers and climate scientists. Wim Carton, Associate Professor at Lund University, was quoted in the report saying such geoengineering is “extreme and perilous”. Carton, who has co-authored Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown, observed that Haverly never addressed the effects on marine ecosystems, tectonic stability, or radioactive fallout.
Carton and others have cautioned that such concepts run the danger of legitimising technological solutions over urgent emission reductions that potentially allow fossil fuel interests to postpone significant climate action.
The plan, as per another NDTV report, brings back 1950s-era proposals to use nuclear explosions for Arctic manipulation and earthmoving—ideas which were later rejected due to their catastrophic consequences.
Defending himself, Haverly said his paper was the theoretical starting point and not a conclusive recommendation.
The plan comes as new interest in extreme geoengineering techniques, including the UK’s £50 million project to study solar dimming technologies. One technique calls for salt to be sprayed into clouds to improve its reflectivity, and another recommends injecting aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight.
A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on what’s creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.
A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on what’s creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.
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