Source Depth of Burial Experiment at Balapan

Future Work

Inversion of surface waves for determination of the local velocity structure of the Former Soviet Semipalatinsk Nuclear test site is under way. The DSWA/DOE/NNC collaboration will continue this summer with a dedicated, 100 ton calibration explosion at tunnel 214 in the Degelen Mountain massif. The explosion will be fully tamped and is to be followed by an untamped 100 ton explosion in another drift of tunnel 214 in FY 99. Near source and regional seismic instrumentation will be augmented with CORRTEX and shock measurements within the explosive and out to 45-m range. Infrasound sensors will also be deployed at near source and regional seismic stations.

Acknowledgments

We thank Luke Kluchko of DSWA, responsible for contract monitoring during the Test Hole Closure experiments, for his support and expertise. Lew Glenn (LLNL) developed the Depth of Burial Experiment concept. Nadezhda Belyashova (NNC) provided much needed field support.

References

National Nuclear Center, Republic of Kazakhstan, Three experimental test hole closures at the Balapan test field, Final Report, Contract DSWA-0094/1, Item 0009, 108 pp, 1997.

Yang, X., B.W. Stump and W.S. Phillips, Source mechanism of an explosively induced mine collapse, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 88, 843-854, 1998.

Phillips, W.S., D.C. Pearson, C.L. Edwards and B.W. Stump, Microseismicity induced by a controlled, mine collapse at White Pine, Michigan, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci, 34, no. 3-4, paper no. 00246, 1997.