Publications Details
The DOE/DOD Environmental Data Bank
The DOE/DOD Environmental Data Bank was established in 1959 as a central location for storing weapons and equipment environments information from a variety of DOE, DOD, and industrial sources and continues to be maintained by Sandia National Laboratories. The Environmental Data Bank contains approximately 2,900 documents regarding normal and abnormal environments that describe the handling, storage, transportation, use, and general phases, which occur during the life of a weapon system. The Environmental Data Bank contains a vast assortment of resources that document crash, fire, and chemical environments resulting from aircraft, rail, ship, and truck accidents, as well as crash and thermal tests conducted on shipping containers. Also included are studies on the hazards of exposure to liquid natural gas fireballs, chemical fireballs, and hydrogen fireballs. This paper describes the DOE/DOD Environmental Data Bank system, its structure, data sources, and usage, with particular emphasis on its use for safety assessments at Sandia National Laboratories.