The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said it conducted Tuesday an experimental conventional explosion as part of a series of tests intended to improve underground nuclear explosion detection capabilities. The explosion, the fifth in the Source Physics Experiment (SPE) series conducted at the Nevada National Security Site, involved detonation of chemical explosives equivalent to 5,000 kilograms of TNT 76 meters underground, the NNSA said in a press release.
Seismic data gathered from the experiment through technologies such as infrasound, drone-based photogrammetry, and synthetic aperture radar, are made available to researchers for analysis through the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, the NNSA said. It noted that experiments conducted near the location of previous underground nuclear tests allow researchers to compare data from conventional and nuclear explosions, which helps the U.S. identify low-yield nuclear tests as opposed to other seismic activity.
The SPE team consists of researchers from the Nevada National Security Site; the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia national laboratories; the University of Nevada-Reno; Weston Geophysical Corp.; and the Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the announcement said.
