Tuff Pile 1 -- A justification of the projection of material properties within a portion of Los Alamos Test Areas 1, 3, 4 and 7 -- Nevada Test Site

The Los Alamos underground nuclear test area which is located west of the Yucca fault and north of Nevada state coordinate N256000 m has been used for testing since 1964. The area encompasses parts of Areas 1, 3, 4 and 7. All of the 25 events conducted in the area have been successfully contained. As knowledge of the geology has improved with additional holes and geophysical surveys, it has become increasingly apparent that this is one of the least complex areas they have for testing outside of Area 3 alluvium. Particularly in the southern three quarters of the area, they found that as each new hole was drilled, the stratigraphy and physical properties encountered were as expected. They have never been surprised. This prompted them to formally evaluate a large portion of the area as a Tuff Pile, a term borrowed from the Area 3 Sandpile, and one that implies that physical properties in the area are sufficiently predictable that most measurements no longer need to be routinely made for containment evaluation. This report is the result of that evaluation