Development of the Containment and Confinement System for Hazardous Material Shock Physics Experiments at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Abstract

A unique containment and confinement system is under development to conduct small explosively driven physics experiments containing hazardous materials at the Proton Radiography facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In these experiments, the detonation of high explosives (HE) is used to drive materials to extreme loading conditions, where some of the materials tested can be extremely hazardous (e.g. nuclear materials). The main components of the system are the Inner Pressure Confinement Vessel (IPCV, which hosts the physics experiment), the Outer Pressure Containment Vessel (OPCV) and Beam Pipes and Auxiliary Hardware (BPAH). This paper describes the design and preliminary analyses of the IPCV. The body of the IPCV, also referred to as the Inner Vessel, is being designed to the criteria of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section VIII, Division 3, Code Case 2564, with the exception of the materials of construction. The closure covers have different devices mounted on them, such as feedthrough devices for sending or receiving electrical and optical signals across the pressure boundary, and valves for venting the vessel interior. The unique feature in the vessel design are the radiographic windows, tentatively made of Beryllium, which need to be strong enough to maintain the pressure boundary during dynamic events, while being radiographically low-attenuating for the purpose of proton imaging.