Publications

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In an effort to improve the current state of the art in fire probabilistic risk assessment methodology, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Regulatory Research, contracted Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to conduct a series of scoping tests to identify thermal and mechanical probes that could be used to characterize the zone of influence (ZOI) during high energy arc fault (HEAF) testing. For the thermal evaluation, passive and active probes were exposed to HEAF-like heat fluxes for a period of 2 seconds at the SNL<U+2019>s National Solar Thermal Test Facility to determine their ability to survive and measure such an extreme environment. Thermal probes tested included temperature lacquers (passive), NANMAC thermocouples, directional flame thermometers, modified plate thermometers, infrared temperature sensors, and a Gardon heat flux gauge. Similarly, passive and active pressure probes were evaluated by exposing them to pressures resulting from various high-explosive detonations at the Sandia Terminal Ballistic Facility. Pressure probes included bikini pressure gauges (passive) and pressure transducers. Results from these tests provided good insight to determine which probes should be considered for use during future HEAF testing.

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Predicting the response of energetic materials during accidents, such as fire, is important for high consequence safety analysis. We hypothesize that responses of ener-getic materials before and after ignition depend on factors that cause thermal and chemi-cal damage. We have previously correlated violence from PETN to the extent of decom-position at ignition, determined as the time when the maximum Damkoehler number ex-ceeds a threshold value. We seek to understand if our method of violence correlation ap-plies universally to other explosive starting with RDX.

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The objective of this subtask of the Unconventional Nuclear Warfare Design project was to demonstrate mitigation technologies for radiological material dispersal and to assist planners with incorporation of the technologies into a concept of operations. The High Consequence Assessment and Technology department at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has studied aqueous foam's ability to mitigate the effects of an explosively disseminated radiological dispersal device (RDD). These benefits include particle capture of respirable radiological particles, attenuation of blast overpressure, and reduction of plume buoyancy. To better convey the aqueous foam attributes, SNL conducted a study using the Explosive Release Atmospheric Dispersion model, comparing the effects of a mitigated and unmitigated explosive RDD release. Results from this study compared health effects and land contamination between the two scenarios in terms of distances of effect, population exposure, and remediation costs. Incorporating aqueous foam technology, SNL created a conceptual design for a stationary containment area to be located at a facility entrance with equipment that could minimize the effects from the detonation of a vehicle transported RDD. The containment design was evaluated against several criteria, including mitigation ability (both respirable and large fragment particle capture as well as blast overpressure suppression), speed of implementation, cost, simplicity, and required space. A mock-up of the conceptual idea was constructed at SNL's 9920 explosive test site to demonstrate the containment design.