an apparatus and method for the destruction of terrorist weapons , including explosives chemical and biological agents , by detonation in an enclosed double - walled steel explosion chamber having its walls , access door and floor filled with granular shock damping material . the chamber is vented through orifices into vent pipes which converge in a manifold which exhausts into an expansion tank or scrubber for cooling , testing , and environmental treatment of the explosion products . a weapon to be destroyed is placed into the chamber with a donor explosive charge and held in place by a disintegratable string hammock , along with one or more plastic polymer film bags containing water . after closing the access door , the donor charge is detonated by an electrical detonation means . for use in destroying known or suspected chemical or biological weapons the donor charge is augmented with an oxidizing material such as potassium nitrate , and the resulting fireball is enhanced by powdered metal such as aluminum , to achieve an instantaneous pressure of 100 kilobars and instantaneous temperature of 3 , 000 degrees celsius .