Site Characterization and Monitoring of Technical Area 49 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory

Conference · Tue Feb 25 04:00:00 EST 2003

OSTI ID:826276

Levitt, D G; Kisiel, K C; Newell, D L; Hopkins, J K; Criswell, C W; Woodworth, L A

In 1959-1961, subcritical hydronuclear safety experiments were conducted at Technical Area (TA) 49 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). These underground experiments were designed and conducted to investigate safety issues. Seventy hydronuclear safety, tracer, and containment test experiments were conducted in 1-m or 2-m diameter shafts at depths ranging between 9 m and 33 m. The subsurface radiological and metals inventory consists of about 40 kg of plutonium, 93 kg of uranium-235, 170 kg of uranium-238, 11 kg of beryllium, and possibly more than 90,000 kg of lead. Explosives used in the experiments consisted largely of TNT, RDX, HMX, and barium nitrate. It is highly likely that the explosives, except for the barium component, were completely consumed by the detonations. Hydronuclear safety test shafts were drilled, test materials were placed at the bottom of the shafts, shafts were backfilled with sand or local crushed tuff, tests were detonated, subsidence in the shafts were backfilled, and cement caps were poured over the test shafts. The diameter of the affected detonation zones is believed to be less than 6 m. Most test shafts were drilled on an 8-m grid spacing in four main areas within TA-49.

• Research Organization: Science and Engineering Associates, Inc., Santa Fe, NM; Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM; U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Los Alamos Site Operations, Los Alamos, NM (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• OSTI ID: 826276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BARIUM
BARIUM NITRATES
BERYLLIUM
CEMENTS
CONTAINMENT
EXPLOSIONS
EXPLOSIVES
PLUTONIUM
SAFETY
SAND
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
TNT
TUFF
URANIUM 235
URANIUM 238
WASTE MANAGEMENT