Definitions for gravel gertie
grav·el ger·tie

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1. Gravel Gertienoun

   A chamber, with a roof covered by a deep pile of gravel, within which nuclear warheads may be maintained; in the event of a (non-nuclear) explosion, the roof is weakened and the gravel falls and prevents the escape of nuclear material

2. Etymology: From a character in the Dick Tracy comic strip

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1. Gravel Gertie

   A Gravel Gertie is a type of bunker designed to provide containment during the nuclear weapons assembly process, when the plutonium or highly enriched uranium "pit" is mated with the high explosive components and wired into the electronics (the "physics package") of the warhead.

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1. Gravel Gertie

   A Gravel Gertie is a type of bunker designed for the inspection, handling or dismantling of nuclear weapons. The Gravel Gertie was developed in 1957 by Sandia National Laboratories as a modification of existing igloo-style conventional munitions bunkers, which are designed to contain internal explosions by venting much of the overpressure out the main door. While this represents a good strategy for minimizing the risks posed by normal bombs, the low order detonation of a nuclear warhead's high explosives would spread vaporized plutonium, tritium and uranium over the surrounding area via the air. Full nuclear detonation was highly unlikely and impossible to design against, but low-order detonations were a very real risk during assembly, disassembly and maintenance, especially of older gun-type fission weapons. A Gravel Gertie has thick reinforced concrete walls but a ventilated roof covered internally by approximately 7 meters of loosely compressed porous gravel suspended from steel cables above a false ceiling over the work area. In the event of an explosion, the mass of gravel is designed to compress and move upward with the initial blast, sealing the hole in the roof while allowing some of the gas pressure to escape by passing through the gravel. This "filters" the escaping gases and prevents the building from rupturing. The mass of gravel then falls down into the room when the gases cool, trapping large amounts of radioactive particles under and within the gravel, further minimizing leakage. According to tests at Sandia, the Gravel Gertie successfully reduced the expected level of external airborne contamination by a factor of 10, which was considered satisfactory to limit exposure to the immediate area.

How to pronounce gravel gertie?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say gravel gertie in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of gravel gertie in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of gravel gertie in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

References

1. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gravel_Gertie
2. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravel_Gertie
3. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=gravel gertie