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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Researchers use one-of-a-kind expertise and capabilities to test fuels of tomorrow
At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.
Donald E. Burton, Charles M. Snell, Jon B. Bryan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 26 | Number 1 | May 1975 | Pages 65-87
Technical Paper | Nuclear Explosive | doi.org/10.13182/NT75-A24405
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two-dimensional computer calculations were performed to model nuclear and high-explosive cratering detonations in saturated Bearpaw clay shale. Three calculations simulated 20-ton energy-yield nitromethane cratering experiments at burial depths of 6, 12.5, and 17 m. Results agreed with experimentally measured peak stresses, peak particle velocities, and crater dimensions. Calculations for a hypothetical nuclear source of the same energy at 12.5 m showed that only half as much kinetic energy was coupled into the mound; a correspondingly smaller crater was predicted. A 10-ton nitromethane source at 12.5 m was also calculated and was found to closely match the nuclear calculation. For these calculations, mound kinetic energy provided a valid criterion for achieving cratering similitude between high-explosive and nuclear events. In this case, similitude was obtained with a nitromethane source having about half the energy of the nuclear source.