This page repeats the original Wikipedia article - exactly "as is" (to be more exact - exactly "as was"). The article was originally located
herePlease, note also that in order to get better understanding on how this kind of nuclear demolition scheme worked out particularly in the WTC nuclear demolition on 9/11 (including watching the WTC demolition videos), you might need to visit
this website.
Nuclear demolitionNuclear demolition of skyscrapers was a new concept of a broader term of controlled demolition that first appeared at the end of 60s, when it became necessary to provide some satisfactory means of how to demolish modern tall steel frame buildings in order to meet necessary requirements set by a building code.
Atomic demolitionIt shall be understood that this concept of nuclear demolition as a kind of controlled demolition had nothing to do with another concept - that of a so-called atomic demolition, which existed in the 50s. The difference between the two is as follows. In an atomic demolition, a building (or bridge, or tunnel, or bunker, or another structure) is being demolished by special small- or medium-caliber atomic demolition munitions (SADM or MADM) that produce a classical atmospheric nuclear blast. So a larger part of an entire explosive energy of such an atomic munitions would be spent on creation of a well-known atomic air-blast wave, a thermal radiation, a penetrating ionizing radiation, an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), as well as it will also cause an ensuing radioactive contamination of surroundings. So only a relatively small part of such an atomic explosion would be directed towards the main job - the demolition of the intended building, while incomparably larger part of its energy would be spent on creating unnecessary devastation around the demolished object. Judging from this point of view, an atomic demolition has never been an option when it comes to real demolition works in civil life. Real demolition works are always performed through usage of charges of conventional explosives - attached to bearing structures at right points, which allows to achieve the highest efficiency factor - meaning spending as much explosive energy as possible on the actual demolition job, and as little explosive energy as possible - on damaging surroundings. So, an atomic demolition could only be performed in times of real emergency - for example, in times of war, when to spend several weeks to calculate and prepare a "conventional" controlled demolition of an important object can not be afforded. There is yet another factor that prevents routine usage of atomic demolition munitions in demolishing any civil infrastructure, besides described above "atomic" damages that it would inevitably cause to surroundings. This is a financial factor. There is no nuclear device that could cost cheaper than 2 million US dollars, while precisely wrought SADM or MADM suppose to cost even more than that. Which makes their routine usage simply too costly.
Comment: You may also want to read Dimitri Khalezov's interesting 9/11 story here:
Is this really what happened? Arms Trafficking, Stolen Missiles, Soviet Submarines, Nuclear Detonations and 9/11: Interview with Dimitri Khalezov
And listen to his comprehensive interview here, where he expands on his extraordinary claim that the three WTC towers had a nuclear demolition option built into their structures in order to meet New York City planning regulations that required a mechanism be in place to bring down the towers in an emergency.