DARHT: Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility; LALP 08-031

Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2008. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Brochure. Very good. Format is approximately 25.5 inches by 11 inches, folded into six panels, three front and three back. Illustrations (color). Diagrams. Nice depiction of the first and second axis with a nice inset illustration of a special dual-axis containment system. Technical specifications for each axis in a table. Item has slight wear and soiling. Details of DARHT expectations and capabilities presented. The Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility (DARHT) is a facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory which is part of the Department of Energy's stockpile stewardship program. It uses two large X-ray machines to record three-dimensional interior images of materials. In most experiments, materials undergo hydrodynamic shock to simulate the implosion process in nuclear bombs and/or the effects of severe hydrodynamic stress. The tests are described as "full-scale mockups of the events that trigger the nuclear detonation". The powerful pulsed X-ray beams allow for an ultra-fast motion picture to be constructed showing the details of the process being studied in three dimensions. During a weapon's crucial triggering phase, explosive charges that surround the nuclear fuel are detonated at multiple points. The result is a shock wave that moves inward (implosion) at supersonic speeds, compressing the fuel to higher and higher density. Implosion ends when the fuel reaches a supercritical density, the density at which nuclear reactions in the fuel build up an uncontainable amount of energy, which is then released in a massive explosion. To make the mockup non-nuclear, a heavy metal surrogate (such as depleted uranium or lead) stands in for the nuclear fuel, but all other components can be exact replicas. Sub-critical masses of plutonium may also be used. Under such extreme implosion forces materials tend to behave like fluids, so this mock implosion is called a hydrodynamic test, or hydrotest. Standard practice is to take a single stop-action snapshot of the weapon mockup's interior as the molten components rush inward at thousands of meters per second. X-rays that can penetrate the heavy metal in a weapon mockup are made with an electron accelerator.