UCFZ-ID- 124979

Palanquin Post-Shot Exploration

L. Meyer S. Hansen J. Toman

July 28,1965

This is an informal report intended primarily for internal or limited external distribution. The opinions and conclusions stated are those of the author and may or may not be those of the Laboratory. Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratow under Contract W-7405-ENG-48.

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employets, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or use- fulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any spe- cific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufac- turer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recom- mendation. or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors exprcssed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

DISCLAIMER

Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image producfs. Images are produced from the best available original dOCUIZlent.

Its E C LA SSII FI 6 ATI ON STAMP ON REVERSE.

L. Meyer, S. Hansen, and J. Toman SLiUT.CT : Pz3 anquin PJ st- Shot Exploration

I. O'cjective of Re-entry

The purpose of the Palanquin post-shot exploration program i s t o o'ctai-.. data that i s needed i n the understanding of the PalanqtTin experiment, and

related explosion phenomena, which can be obtained i n no ozher way. uesired d a t a can be grouped i n t o the following categories:

The

A. C e m e i r y of the True Crater Boundary and the Outer Boundary or the "Get Last Hole" The nost-shot exploration program outlined i n l a t e r sec t ions of this

memorandm a r e the best methads avai lable for obtaining da ta regar2ing

the geometry of the boundary of the t rue c ra t e r and the "Get Lost 3k."

Ecsides determining the location of t h i s boundary, it is desirrtble CCI

describe t h e boundary charac te r i s t ics , i.e., its sharpness, the natcre

of the rock material on both sides, and concentration of radioaczive

isotopes or s l ag present there. --, 2. - Yhc il'zture and Extent of Fracturing i n the Rock Sur roxd ing the

Ti-ue CI-ater Boundary Caused by the Explosion This category includes an evaluation of macro and micro f r ac t s r e s

resultinp from the explosion, t h e i r nature, l a t e r a l extenT;, and

eetcrmination of the existence of radioactive mater ia ls in jec ted vizil in them. Associated information on increased f rac ture ;permeabilLt:,- w i l l r e o o t a i n a ~ l c as a par t of the f rac ture evaluation program.

I

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C . 'Tine Snmpl in;: :)f' ;.:or.k and Mcli Ins ide and Outside t h e Crater -I-----

and "Get Lost Hole" Houndarv

Samples fo r microscopic, petrographic, gamma ray and chemical anak-rsis a r e required t o provide information on explosion and "Get Los t E31.e"

phemmena. These ::mples will a l s o provide information on the d i s t r i a x i x .

of rad ioac t iv i ty from t he emplacement configmaxion used i n the Palanq3sr.

exTerirnent. InTorqation on the e f f e c t s of &he explosion on tne "Get LCSY Hole" casing, i t s s t a t e of vaporization, e tc . , w i l l be obtained 5 y

stampling.

11. Why Do We Want t h e Ahove Data The c ra te r ing mechanisms of the Palanquin experiment were a t m i c a 1 i n

comparison LO previously observed cra te r ing shots. Judgment concerning ~ o s s i C l e

causes for t h i s behavior o r t he pred ic t ive capabi l i ty of ex i s t ing codes w i i l

're incmclus ive wi thout some knowledge of the post-shot environment of the lower cavi ty and " G e t L o s t Hole."

i n Section I above can be compared d i r e c t l y with pre-shot code calculat ions. Sucn inr"ormation can be used t o improve or ver i fy the r e l i a b i l i t y 05' ex i s t ing

conputer codes and place considerabbj higher confidence on predic t ions of

"Get L x t Hole" Dhenomena i n fu ture c ra te r ing shots.

accurate post-shot model by means of t h i s exploration program w i l l impove 0 1 2

understanding of t he basic e f f e c t s phenomena associated with a "Get L o s t Szle," provide a base fo r an empirical p red ic t ive capabi l i ty , and give d i r ec t ion t o the ultimate p rac t i ca l engineering appl icat ions of nuclear explosives f i r e d m a e r

biiese conditions i n hard rock media. f'ollow on eqer iment to Palanquin w i l l be extremely d i f f i c u l t and perhaps f r u i t l e s s without t h i s data .

Much of the physical e f f e c t s d a t a inchided

Tne construct ion of m

Certainly, the design of a meaning321

The plan for post-shot e-xploration i s presented i n the following: A . DescriDtion

1. Mine Openings -- One rectangular, v e r t i c a l , two-comFartment sha f t

w i t h dimensions 01' 5 f't x 10 f't (constructed by d r i l l and blast

methods) 35,O f t deep, and one d r i f t about 550 f t long.

Gi-illing s t a t i o n srould be establ ished a t 300 ft from tne siiaf; along the d r i f t .

One

2. D r i l l holes (number -- 4 t o 10; t o t a l footage -- bo0 t o 2,000 fx)

m c t l d be fanned out from the d r i l l s t a t i o n t o the c r a t e r cav i ty and

t he "Get Lost Hole." Holes would be approximately Nx s i z e , dimona

b i t s would be used and cores would be recovered where desired, B. 1nf'orma.tion t o be OLtained

1. Casing debr i s and Rad Chem samples from t h e d r i f t s and holes. 2. Visual inspection of the fractured cone outs ide t h e cavi ty .

3. Temperature and rad ia t ion data from d r i l l holes. 4. Miscellaneous i n - s i t u physical measurements and observations.

3 3 . SmQ2ry

The one-drift exploration scheme using a v e r t i c a l 350 I't s h a f t w i l l ocfer

an escellenl. opportunity to gain an understanding of the underground ef feccs @:'the Palmquin experiment. T h i s post-shot exploration ~ l a n has t h e rezl

a d v a n t a p of guaranteeing usei2ul data, since a c t u a l re-entry will be acnieved. E i s t o r i c a l l y , mined r e -en t r i e s have been eminently more successfu l than d r i l l e d re -en t r ies . Four o ther plans involving d r i l l i n g and/or mining were re j e c z e d

. i n f ivo r of' t h i s proposal. The main unknown at t h i s time.appears t o D e wheLile-

o r not usable information on the lower portion of' t h e " G e t L o s t Hole" cac =e

obtained u y underground diamond d r i l l i n g . One o r two samples of radioactive s l ag from the bottom portion of' t he "Get Lost Hole" a r e needed.

da t a on tlie configuration of t he lower portions of t he "Get Lost Hole" a r e

required.

Also, accwaze

_ , I -

A mine :;iaf'i. is f':i.>oscd over a drill. shaf't m a i n l y uecause of' safeci,

veniilai:on, znd Li ic ability t o use la rger and more ef'feczive imdergro-md

equlgnent . Ir: the event t h a t a second experiment i s carr ied OUT, t o f'urther e e l o r e

:he "Gez Lost" concept as a follow-up t o Palanquin, zne shar't could be zsed ?or device emplacement and the drift fo r instrumentation. The h w e r 350 f-c neeceG GO provide "Get L o s t " space could be d r i l l e d as a pa r t of The new

e q e r i n e n t .

LFI/SH/JT/ : cpc

Distr ibut ion:

G . Johnson G. Hl.ggins G . Werth R. IIer'nst J. Knos H. Keller M. Nordyke R . Wallstedt W. Nervik A . Holzer

J. K e l l y J. Reeves J. P h i l i p

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6/10 A 7/10 A

5/10 A

6/10 A 9/10 A 10/10 A

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