Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility

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Aerial view of DARHT ca. 2004

The Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility (DARHT) is a facility being built at Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of the Department of Energy's stockpile stewardship program. It uses two large x-ray machines to record three-dimensional interior images of materials simulating nuclear explosion testing (including subcritical testing).

The DARHT program initially began in 1988, but became especially pushed for after the United States stopped testing nuclear weapons in 1992. Construction was halted between 1995 and 1996 due to lawsuits by two anti-nuclear weapons organizations demanding that the laboratory produce an Environmental Impact Statement for its construction and operation. It has also been argued by activists that DARHT is a violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and potentially the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, though the lab and the DOE reject this view.

Currently only one of the two x-ray machines in DARHT is fully functioning, as there were errors made in the construction of the more complicated and powerful second axis. The full machine is expected to be working by 2008. The facility was initially expected to cost $30 million in 1988, but as of 2003 the cost of construction had risen to $327 million.