ABSTRACT
JASON was asked by the National Nuclear Security Administration( NNSA) to examine the current plans from the NNSA laboratories for hydrodynamic and subcritical experiments and to make recommendations for future efforts. The NNSA recently established the Office of Nuclear Experiments to coordinate a single long-term program of hydrodynamic experiments using surrogate materials and subcritical experiments using plutonium. The goal of this program is to develop improved understanding of the underlying physics of the materials and components in nuclear weapons in support of recent efforts such as the National Boost Initiative. JASON reviewed ongoing activities and plans for these experiments at the NNSA laboratories. The following summarizes the principal findings and recommendations of the report.
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