The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory published new research about how near-surface detonations can affect nuclear-weapon yields, the California-based design lab said Monday.
The findings, summarized in a paper titled “the reflection of a blast wave by a very intense explosion,” were published last week in Proceedings A of the Royal Society Publishing. The authors are Andrew Cook, Joseph Bauer and Gregory Spriggs, all of Livermore.
The team’s findings were based in part on Livermore’s “Film Scanning and Re-analysis Project,” for which Spriggs was principal investigator. The project involves analyzing video footage of old, atmospheric nuclear-weapon tests.
“Having the capability to accurately predict the damage of a high-yield device in a wide array of cases, urban settings in particular, is of paramount interest to our national security,” Spriggs said in the release. “This information enables us to pre-compute damage and guide emergency response personnel in the event that the United States is attacked or in case of a catastrophic accident.”
Livermore’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Mission Effectiveness Program supported the research, Livermore said in its press release about the findings.
