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Nuclear Subterranean Tunneling Machines

From the book "Underground Bases and Tunnels, by Richard
Sauder, Ph.D., ISBN 0-9644979-0-5

Nuclear Subterrenes

The nuclear subterrene (rhymes with submarine) was designed at
the Los Alamos National Laboratory, in New Mexico. A number of
patents were filed by scientists at Los Alamos, a few federal
technical documents were written -- and then the whole thing just
sort of faded away.

Or did it?

Nuclear subterrenes work by melting their way through the rock
and soil, actually vitrifying it as they go, and leaving a neat, solidly
glass-lined tunnel behind them.

The heat is supplied by a compact nuclear reactor that circulates
liquid lithium from the reactor core to the tunnel face, where it
melts the rock. In the process of melting the rock the lithium loses
some of its heat. It is then circulated back along the exterior of the
tunneling machine to help cool the vitrified rock as the tunneling
machine forces its way forward. The cooled lithium then circulates
back to the reactor where the whole cycle starts over. In this way
the nuclear subterrene slices through the rock like a nuclear
powered, 2,000 degree Fahrenheit (Celcius? - SW) earthworm,
boring its way deep underground.

The United States Atomic Energy Commission and the United
States Energy Research and Development Administration took out
Patents in the 1970s for nuclear subterrenes. The first patent, in
1972 went to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

The nuclear subterrene has an advantage over mechanical TBMs in
that it produces no muck that must be disposed of by conveyors,
trains, trucks, etc. This greatly simplifies tunneling. If nuclear
subterrenes actually exist (and I do not know if they do) their
presence, and the tunnels they make, could be very hard to detect,
for the simple reason that there would not be the tell-tale muck
piles or tailings dumps that are associated with the conventional
tunneling activities.

The 1972 patent makes this clear. It states:

"... (D)ebris may be disposed of as melted rock both as a lining for
the hole and as a dispersal in cracks produced in the surrounding
rock. The rock-melting drill is of a shape and is propelled under
sufficient pressure to produce and extend cracks in solid rock
radially around the bore by means of hydrostatic pressure
developed in the molten rock ahead of the advancing rock drill
penetrator. All melt not used in glass-lining the bore is forced into
the cracks where it freezes and remains ...

"... Such a (vitreous) lining eliminates, in most cases, the expensive
and cumbersome problem of debris elimination and at the same
time achieves the advantage of a casing type of bore hole liner."
(US Patent No. 3,693,731, 26 Sep 1972)

There you have it: a tunneling machine that creates no muck, and
leaves a smooth, vitreous (glassy) tunnel lining behind.

Another patent three years later was for:

A tunneling machine for producing large tunnels in soft rock or
wet, clayey, unconsolidated or bouldery earth by simultaneously
detaching the tunnel core by thermal melting a boundary kerf into
the tunnel face and forming a supporting excavation wall liner by
deflecting the molten materials against the excavation walls to
provide, when solidified, a continuous wall supporting liner, and
detaching the tunnel face circumscribed by the kerf with powered
mechanical earth detachment means and in which the heat required
for melting the kerf and liner material is provided by a compact
nuclear reactor.

This 1975 patent further specifies that the machine is intended to
excavate tunnels up to 12 meters in diameter or more. This means
tunnels of 40 ft. or more in diameter. The kerf is the outside
boundary of the tunnel wall that a boring machine gouges out as it
bores through the ground or rock. So, in ordinary English, this
machine will melt a circular boundary into the tunnel face. The
melted rock will be forced to the outside of the tunnel by the tunnel
machine, where it will form a hard, glassy tunnel lining (see the
appropriate detail in the patent itself, as shown in Illustration 41).
At the same time, mechanical tunnel boring equipment will grind
up the rock and soil detached by the melted kerf and pass it to the
rear of the machine for disposal by conveyor, slurry pipeline, etc.

And yet a third patent was issued to the United States Energy
Research and Development Administration just 21 days later, on 27
May 1975 for a machine remarkably similar to the machine
patented on 6 May 1975. The abstract describes:

A tunneling machine for producing large tunnels in rock by
progressive detachment of the tunnel core by thermal melting a
boundary kerf into the tunnel face and simultaneously forming an
initial tunnel wall support by deflecting the molten materials
against the tunnel walls to provide, when solidified, a continuous
liner; and fragmenting the tunnel core circumscribed by the kerf by
thermal stress fracturing and in which the heat required for such
operations is supplied by a compact nuclear reactor.

This machine would also be capable of making a glass-lined tunnel
of 40 ft. in diameter or more.

Perhaps some of my readers have heard the same rumors that I have
heard swirling in the UFO literature and on the UFO grapevine:
stories of deep, secret, glass-walled tunnels excavated by laser
powered tunneling machines. I do not know if these stories are true.
If they are, however, it may be that the glass-walled tunnels are
made by the nuclear subterrenes described in these patents. The
careful reader will note that all of these patents were obtained by
agencies of the United States government. Further, all but one of
the inventors are from Los Alamos, New Mexico. Of course, Los
Alamos National Lab is itself the subject of considerable rumors
about underground tunnels and chambers, Little Greys or "EBEs",
and various other covert goings-on.

(It may also be that the some of the tunnels are made by these
machines, while other subterranean tunnel systems were made by
other civilizations, both ancient and modern. --SW)

A 1973 Los Alamos study entitled "Systems and Cost Analysis for
a Nuclear Subterrene Tunneling Machine: A Preliminary Study",
concluded that nuclear subterrene tunneling machines (NSTMs)
would be very cost effective, compared to conventional TBMs. It
stated:

Tunneling costs for NSTMs are very close to those for TBMs, if
operating conditions for TBMs are favorable. However, for variable
formations and unfavorable conditions such as soft, wet, bouldery
ground or very hard rock, the NSTMs are far more effective.
Estimates of cost and percentage use of NSTMs to satisfy U.S.
transportation tunnel demands indicate a potential cost savings of
850 million dollars (1969 dollars) throughout 1990. An estimated
NSTM prototype demonstration cost of $100 million over an eight-
year period results in a favorable benefit-to-cost ratio of 8.5.

...Was the 1973 feasibility study only idle speculation, and is the
astonishingly similar patent two years later only a wild
coincidence? As many a frustrated inventor will tell you, the U.S.
Patent Office only issues the paperwork when it's satisfied that the
thing in question actually works!

In 1975 the National Science Foundation commissioned another
cost analysis of the nuclear subterrene. The A.A. Mathews
Construction and Engineering Company of Rockville, Maryland
produced a comprehensive report with two, separate, lengthy
appendices, one 235 and the other 328 pages.

A.A. Mathews calculated costs for constructing three different
sized tunnels in the Southern California area in 1974. The three
tunnel diameters were: a) 3.05 meters (10 ft.); b) 4.73 meters (15.5
ft.); and c) 6.25 meters (20.5 ft.). Comparing the cost of using
NSTMs to the cost of mechanical TBMs, A.A. Mathews
determined:

Savings of 12 percent for the 4.73 meter (15.5 ft.) tunnel and 6
percent for the 6.25 meter (20.5 foot) tunnel were found to be
possible using the NSTM as compared to current methods. A
penalty of 30 percent was found for the 3.05 meter (10 foot) tunnel
using the NSTM. The cost advantage for the NSTM results from
the combination of (a) a capital rather than labor intensive system,
(Reducing the number of personnel required is especially important
in black budget projects for security reasons. --SW) and (b)
formation of both initial support and final lining in conjunction
with the excavation process. (Leaving a glass-like lining, which
could be *air-tight*, allowing the use of high-speed,
superconducting mag-lev trains operated in a virtual vacuum in a
tunnel deep underground. --SW)

This report has a number of interesting features. It is noteworthy in
the first place that the government commissioned such a lengthy
and detailed analysis of the cost of operating a nuclear subterrenes.
Just as intriguing is the fact that the study found that the tunnels in
the 15 ft. to 20 ft. diameter range can be more economically
excavated by NSTMs than by conventional TBMs.

Finally, the southern California location that was chosen for
tunneling cost analysis is thought provoking. This is precisely one
of the regions of the West where there is rumored to be a secret
tunnel system. Did the A.A. Mathews study represent part of the
planning for an actual covert tunneling project that was
subsequently carried out, when it was determined that it was more
cost effective to use NSTMs than mechanical TBMs?

Whether or not nuclear subterrene tunneling machines have been
used, or are being used, for subterranean tunneling is a question I
cannot presently answer. If you should happen to know, contact me
with the relevant proof.

(That is, contact Richard Sauder, Ph.D., PO Box 81543,
Albuquerque, NM 87198 (USA). "Underground Bases and
Tunnels" can also be ordered from this address for $16.90. --SW)




 
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