Large explosive weight experiments and experiments requiring large recovery pads are conducted at the West Valley Pad. This area is approved for net explosive weight testing up to 2,275 kg (5,000 lbs). It features a 300 m x 600 m (1,000 ft x 2,000 ft.) flat, oval pad that can be graded and compacted to accommodate instrumentation. The West Valley Pad is useful for recovery of warhead fragments or debris.
The West Valley Pad has been used extensively in our Counter-terrorist Explosives Research Program. West Valley is regularly used for TNT equivalency testing, quantity-distance evaluations, and industrial interline distance evaluations. Other programs have included gunfire testing, destructive testing of models, fragment debris distribution studies, tactical rocket firings, and tactical vehicle tests. The area is sheltered within canyons that confine test hazards and blast effects; and it provides considerable security from unauthorized entry or observation of tests.