Acquisition of new electronic systems that must be hardened for initial nuclear radiation (INR) requires increased lead times and greater engineering and production costs. The current thrust of the dod is to purchase NDI where practical. This study assesses the feasibility and practicality of incorporating nuclear hardening into ndi. The study will examine the types of equipment that are candidates for hardening, the various expected nuclear environments, the generic classes of components employed in the equipment, packaging techniques and materials employed, the categories and ranges of feasible modifications to the equipment, the various practical NDI hardening concepts, and will make recommendations for hardening the equipment and for incorporating hardness assurance/hardness maintenance procedures into production of the modified equipment.
