CONSTRUCTION OF A SEALEVEL, TRANSISTHMIAN CANAL USING NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVES
This repont is based: (1) on information developed in earlier high explosive experiments which determined the optimum spacing and burial depth of charges in a row to produce a channel uniformly wide and deep, and (2) on the Sedan and Danny Boy experiments, which provided data on dimensions of nuclear craters in both soil and basalt rock. This information has been combined with the 1947 route surveys of the Panama Canal Company, and estimates have been made not only of the number and yield of nuclear explosives required to excavate a Transisthmian Canal with nuclear explosives, but also of the cost of the explosives and the cost of their emplacement. Since there is an uncertainty in the correct scaling method to use, calculations have been made in which linear dimensions of the craters are scaled as both the 1/3.4-power and the fourth-root of the yield, W. The nuclear requirements were calculated both with and without considering the necessity of the long-term stability of the crater slopes. The requirements for slope stability increase total yield about 30 percent, without an appreciable change in total cost or the number of devices. Total yield is nearly three times greater for W/sup 1/4/ scaling than for W/sup 1/3/ scaling. Channel widths of 750, 1000, 1250, and 1500 feet were examined. Doubling the channel width reduces the cost and number of devices 20 to 30 percent, but increases the total yield required about 21/2 times. A large number of nuclear device yields were assumed available. Reducing the number of available yields, decreased the cost and number of devices for nuclear excavation, but it increased the total yield considerably. For some routes, nuclear excavation can be combined with dredging through the lower elevations in soil, thus reducing the total yield and the number of devices required. The costs may be less (or nearly the same) depending on how closely the point of equal cost of mechanical and nuclear methods is approached. Depending on the route involved, the use of nuclear explosives can reduce excavation cost by as much as 90 percent and the total cost by nearly 65 percent. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Sandia Lab., Albuquerque, N. Mex.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT(29-1)-789
- NSA Number:
- NSA-18-016161
- OSTI ID:
- 4076479
- Report Number(s):
- SC-4929(RR)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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NUCLEAR EXCAVATION TECHNOLOGY
Cratering and radioactivity results from a nuclear cratering detonation in basalt