March 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Safe and successful explosives testing requires group effort

It takes a village...

Eric Sanders, left, and Joe Lloyd, both of Explosive Applications and Special Projects, review data gathered from an explosives experiment while inside a bunker at a Laboratory firing site. Photo by Dixon Wolf

Each year, the Laboratory conducts numerous explosives experiments at its firing sites for a host of customers. On average, between 16 and 20 shots take place a week, weather and other factors permitting. With the quantity and nature of the work, it is essential that these experiments are meticulously planned and safely executed. And thanks to some of the best teaming in the Laboratory, that's exactly what routinely happens.

Employees like Ken Uher of the Weapons Facilities Operations (WFO) Division know firsthand how much teamwork goes into projects at the firing sites.

"It's a different group of people out here. It's really a tight group. There's a lot of trust," he said. "I've been here 25 years, and I'm still impressed with the technical capability and the professionalism of the people who do this work."

"We all keep each other's back," said Tommy Herrera of Explosive Applications and Special Projects (DE-6). "We double check each other. I've been at almost every firing site, and I've learned a lot from my co-workers over the past 28 years."

An enhanced-blast explosives experiment currently being conducted at the Laboratory for a federal agency epitomizes the amount of teamwork it takes to get the job done. Project leaders and firing technicians started planning the experiment last fall.

Chemist Bryce Tappan of DE-6 is the primary investigator on the project, whose goal is to characterize the TNT equivalence of new materials he developed. Tappan began work on this experiment more than two years ago.

"It's a rigorous process," he said of explosives testing. "It's a new learning experience every few months. I think it's very academically stimulating."

The initial ideas behind explosives experiments may come from individuals, but the evolution from idea to actuality requires the efforts of an entire team. "The scientists come up with the concept; they have the theory behind what they're hoping to accomplish. But it's really the technicians who take it from conception to reality," explained Victor Sandoval of WFO Division.

One such team member is explosives technician Joe Lloyd of DE-6, who scales up the energetics of an explosives shot, starting with very small amounts (milligrams) of materials and scaling them up to grams and eventually to pounds. "We want to find out what defines a specific explosive as compared to other explosives," he said.

A team also might include Lee Gibson of DE-6, who runs the Cooke camera, which captures video of an explosion, and Dennis Montoya of the same group who operates the mega-sun lighting system that acts like a giant flashcube to backlight the explosives. Montoya also does explosives safety testing.

"It's important to get data, but we want to do everything safely," said Montoya. "The work we do can be hazardous, but because of training and the strict procedures that we follow, the work is conducted in a safe manner."

The crucial person who took the aforementioned enhanced-blast explosives experiment from concept to reality is Eric Sanders of DE-6, who has been doing energetic material characterization and testing at the Laboratory for five years. He was in charge of designing and fielding the experiments.

Eric Sanders, kneeling, and Tommy Herrera align data-gathering equipment in preparation for an explosives experiment at the Lower Slobbovia firing site. Photo Credit: Dixon Wolf

Being team oriented, having a good attitude, respecting co-workers, and being willing to ask questions are important personal traits required to do this type of work, notes Mike Montoya of WFO Division.

"I've been involved in explosives operations for 39 years, and I've found that having the right attitude is key. If a person works well with others and doesn't mind being checked, double checked, and triple checked, that's the kind of person we're looking for," he said.

"This is really, exciting challenging work," said Sandoval of WFO Division. "Everyone who works [at the firing sites] feels that the work we do is extremely important. A lot of what gets done here is in support of our national defense. It ensures that our arsenal is safe."

- Steve Sandoval