Effects of Nuclear Earth-Penetrator and Other Weapons (2005) / Chapter Skim
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CONCLUSIONS The committee's major conclusions are the following: Conclusion 1. Many of the more important strategic hard and deeply buried targets are beyond the reach of conventional explosive penetrating weapons and can be held at risk of destruction only with nuclear weapons.
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To hold at risk hard and deeply buried targets, the nuclear yield must be increased with increasing depth of the target. The calculated limit for holding hard and deeply buried targets at risk of destruction with high probability using a nuclear EPW is approximately 200 meters for a 300 kiloton weapon and 300 meters for a 1 megaton weapon.
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From page 3... ...
Although much of the congressional discussion in this area has been about the RNEP weapon, a more general term is "earth-penetrator weapon." The EPW is designed to detonate below the ground surface after surviving the extremely high shock and structural loading environments that result during impact and penetration. The DOE national laboratories and DOD laboratories have maintained EPW programs and testing activities since the 1960s, resulting in more than 1,000 representative non-nuclear penetration tests that are recorded in the Sandia National Laboratories Earth Penetration Database.
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The effectiveness of nuclear weapons against deeply buried targets can be estimated by calculating the intensity of the ground shock in the vicinity of the buried target in relation to the hardness of the target. There is a reasonably extensive experimental database, Effects Manual Number 1 (EM-1)
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Fallout is a long-studied and experimentally measured feature of many nuclear weapons tests. When a nuclear weapon is exploded underground, a sphere of extremely hot, high-pressure gases is formed, which includes vaporized weapon residues and ground materials, that is the equivalent of the fireball in an airburst or surface burst.
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From page 6... ...
The committee addressed the ability of conventional and nuclear earth-penetrator weapons to effectively destroy buried production facilities, stores, and weapons containing chemical agents and biological agents. The Department of Defense Global Strike Mission requires the capability to deliver rapid, extended-range, precision kinetic (nuclear
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Biological agents are especially susceptible to atmospheric degradation, as their viability decreases depending on levels of radiant solar energy, oxygen, relative humidity, temperature, ozone, and hydroxyl radicals. Chemical agents decompose mainly owing to photochemical processes in the atmosphere, such as reactions with ozone, hydroxyls, and industrial pollutants.
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From page 8... ...
For example, a 1 kiloton weapon buried 3 meters has a 3 meter scaled DOB, whereas a 300 kiloton weapon buried at the same depth of 3 meters couples its energy to the ground as if it were a 1 kiloton weapon buried at an actual depth of about 0.45 meter; that is, 3/3001/3 = 3/6.67 = 0.45.
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