The Source Physics Experiment (SPE) Science Plan

Technical Report · Fri Sep 09 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1887003· OSTI ID:1887003

Snelson, Catherine M. ^[1]; Bradley, Christopher R. ^[1]; Walter, William R. ^[2]; Antoun, Tarabay H. ^[2]; Abbott, Robert A. ^[3]; Jones, Kyle ^[3]; Chipman, Veraun D. ^[4]; Montoya, Lloyd ^[4]

---

1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
3. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
4. Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

The Source Physics Experiment (SPE) series is a long-term NNSA research and development effort designed to improve U.S. arms control and nuclear nonproliferation verification and monitoring capabilities. The findings from the SPE will advance the United States’ nuclear explosion monitoring capabilities, particularly with respect to detection, discrimination and determination of yields associated with small nuclear explosions that can be lost amid the noisy seismo-acoustic background from other sources. The data generated from the SPE, a series of well-designed and recorded chemical explosions, will contribute to the development and validation of first-principles explosive source generated seismo-acoustic modeling codes. These codes will then facilitate the update of semi-empirical methods, currently based on historic test site data, such that key explosion observables can be reproduced, thus improving confidence in nuclear test monitoring in new areas and/or under novel emplacement conditions. The overall SPE project is comprised of both the development of the new explosion simulation codes and the chemical explosion test series. The chemical explosion test series will generate the empirical data required to both develop and validate the new simulation codes.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1887003
• Report Number(s): LLNL-TR-839815; 1060883
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES