One Possible Use for Decommissioned Nukes

Oil shale requires large amounts of heat to convert it to a useful form. A small thermonuclear warhead detonated in an oil shale deposit could provide this energy and the refining process would separate the volatile fuel components from the heavier radioactive elements which could then be disposed of properly. Assuming underground contamination issues could be satisfactorily controlled (a huge assumption, I realize) this could in theory be the first practical use of fusion for energy production. Of course it would still be totally impossible politically, which is why this idea is on my public blog. It also is unclear if the heat would be dispersed in a useful manner, but computer simulation could answer this question.