The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

In January 1947, the United States Army had an excess of metallic sodium left over from World War II and determined that the alkaline waters of Lake Lenore would be a good spot to dump and neutralize the acidic element, which reacts with water with intense explosions.

Barrels containing 20,000 pounds of metallic sodium were rolled off a cliff onto the frozen lake where, according to the video description, they were shot with machine guns to expose the sodium. As the sodium reacted to the water, an estimated 162,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas was produced, which caught fire in large explosi...