DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE SANDIA IN-GROUND STORAGE VAULT

A new high-security In-Ground Storage Vault (IGSV) was designed and constructed at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for long-term storage of nuclear materials that only need to be accessed very infrequently. The vault uses deep underground storage, massive barrier blocks, and entirely passive delay features to achieve much longer access delay times than any above ground vaults. The installation resulted in very substantial savings in response force security costs, and the vault paid for itself by these operating cost reductions within a few months. This paper describes the overall vault design, access delay features, operational features, construction techniques, materials, project cost, cost savings, and potential applications of this vault design at other sites. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.