"Nearly 1,000 feet below the Nevada desert, [U.S.] scientists and engineers are conducting groundbreaking nuclear weapons research. Subcritical experiments, or 'subcrits' for short, play a crucial role in ensuring national security. Subcritical experiments are a key part of the [National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)] science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program, which is the way America ensures that our nuclear weapons are safe, secure, and reliable -- without conducting full-scale nuclear weapons tests."
"Put simply, inside a steel container, a chemical high-explosive is detonated around a coin-like, small sample of plutonium [less than eight ounces] to simulate aspects of a nuclear explosion. No actual chain reaction or nuclear explosion occurs. But this contained detonation, with the assistance of computers, has helped scientists determine how plutonium behaves under the extreme pressures that do occur during detonation of a nuclear weapon."
Nearly 1,000 feet below the Nevada desert, U.S. scientists and engineers conduct subcritical nuclear experiments that test plutonium behavior under explosive compression while avoiding a chain reaction. Subcritical experiments detonate chemical high explosives around coin-sized plutonium samples contained in steel vessels to mimic the fission stage of a modern nuclear weapon but remain below criticality. No critical mass forms and no self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction or explosion occurs. These experiments support the NNSA science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program to ensure nuclear weapons remain safe, secure, and reliable without full-scale nuclear testing. Computers assist analysis of material responses to extreme pressures.
Read at The Cipher Brief
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