Explosives for Nuclear Weapons

On completion the delegates will:

• Understand the requirements for explosive testing with respect to nuclear weapons
• Assess material choice suitable for nuclear weapons
• Have an awareness of the historical aspects to nuclear weapons
• Be able to discuss life-ing of nuclear weapons.

• History and basic concepts of nuclear weapons including nuclear delivery systems
• Safety of nuclear weapons, including the historic developments in safety design philosophy, influence on subsystems and lessons learnt from previous accidents
• Explosives used for nuclear applications including historic developments in explosive formulations, explosive trains, explosive design and "other" explosive devices
• The safety tests of explosives covering detonator tests, powder hazard tests, charge hazard tests and system level tests
• The performance testing covering the reliability, proofing and output of detonators and the velocity of detonation and detonation pressure of secondary charges
• Modelling and hydrocodes of the shock on explosives
• Characterisation and qualification of explosives for nuclear weapons including chemical, thermal and composition analysis, together with powder test, milling and comminution, and tomography and radiography of charges and components
• Case study of a nuclear weapon, including the design and testing, together with life assessments of components
• Formulations and manufacture of explosives for nuclear weapons
• Future concepts of explosives in nuclear applications, including binders and explosive formulations, processing and design for safety and detonator technologies.