Project 1.7 of Operation TEAPOT was concerned with the measurement of surface and subsurface effects of an underground explosion of a 1.2-kt nuclear burst (Shot 7). The measurements included free-field earth and airblast effects, as well as loading on underground structural devices. This report deals with the presentation and analysis of the free-field data only; the structural data have been transmitted to the appropriate agencies for their analysis. From the 76 channels installed on TEAPOT Shot 7, 75 usable records were obtained. The free-field quantities measured include air-blast pressure, earth acceleration, earth stress and strain, and permanent earth displacement. The results are discussed by phenomenon and, in each case, the TEAPOT data are compared with pretest predictions. Also, where data are available, comparisons are made with previous underground nuclear test results. Some aspects of seismology and soil mechanics as applied to underground explosion phenomena are presented and, finally, the most pertinent high explosives results from subsequent tests conducted at the TEAPOT location are summarized. (Author).

Underground facilities are used extensively by many nations to conceal and protect strategic military functions and weapons' stockpiles. Because of their depth and hardened status, however, many of these strategic hard and deeply buried targets could only be put at risk by conventional or nuclear earth penetrating weapons (EPW). Recently, an engineering feasibility study, the robust nuclear earth penetrator program, was started by DOE and DOD to determine if a more effective EPW could be designed using major components of existing nuclear weapons. This activity has created some controversy about, among other things, the level of collateral damage that would ensue if such a weapon were used. To help clarify this issue, the Congress, in P.L. 107-314, directed the Secretary of Defense to request from the NRC a study of the anticipated health and environmental effects of nuclear earth-penetrators and other weapons and the effect of both conventional and nuclear weapons against the storage of biological and chemical weapons. This report provides the results of those analyses. Based on detailed numerical calculations, the report presents a series of findings comparing the effectiveness and expected collateral damage of nuclear EPW and surface nuclear weapons under a variety of conditions.

A purpose of science is to organize diversified factual knowledge into a coherent body of information, and to present this from the simplest possible viewpoint. This is a formidable task where our knowledge is incomplete, as it is with explosions. Here one runs the risk of oversimplification, naivete, and incom pleteness. Nevertheless a purpose of this work is to present as simply as possible a general description of the basic nature of explosions. This treatise should be of interest to all who are working with explosives such as used in construction or in demolition work, in mining operations, or in military applications. It should also be of interest to those concemed with disasters such as explosions or earthquakes, to those involved in civil defense precautions, and to those concemed with defense against terrorists. That is, this material should be of interest to all who wish to utilize, or to avoid, the effects of explosions as weil as to those whose interest is primarily scientific in nature.

Explosion Hazards and Evaluation presents the principles and applications of explosion hazards evaluation. The text is organized into nine chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the energy release processes which generate accidental explosions, and the resulting development of pressure and shock waves in a surrounding atmosphere. The manner in which the "free-field" waves are modified in interacting with structures or other objects in their paths is discussed in Chapter 3. Structural response to blast loading and non-penetrating impact is covered in two chapters, with Chapter 4 including simplified analysis methods and Chapter 5 including numerical methods. Chapter 6 includes a rather comprehensive treatment of generation of fragments and missiles in explosions, and the flight and effects of impact of these objects. Chapter 7 considers thermal radiation of large chemical explosions. Explosions may or may not cause damage or casualty, and various damage criteria have been developed for structures, vehicles, and people. These criteria are presented in Chapter 8. General procedures for both the postmortem evaluation of accidental explosions and for design for blast and impact resistance are reviewed in Chapter 9. Engineers, scientists, and plant safety personnel will find the book very useful.

In November 1999, GSA and the U.S. Department of State convened a symposium to discuss the apparently conflicting objectives of security from terrorist attack and the design of public buildings in an open society. The symposium sponsors rejected the notion of rigid, prescriptive design approaches. The symposium concluded with a challenge to the design and security professions to craft aesthetically appealing architectural solutions that achieve balanced, performance-based approaches to both openness and security. In response to a request from the Office of the Chief Architect of the Public Buildings Service, the National Research Council (NRC) assembled a panel of independent experts, the Committee to Review the Security Design Criteria of the Interagency Security Committee. This committee was tasked to evaluate the ISC Security Design Criteria to determine whether particular provisions might be too prescriptive to allow a design professional "reasonable flexibility" in achieving desired security and physical protection objectives.