we have the (was) Centrica test facility just down the road from us https://www.dnv.com/oilgas/laborator...spadeadam.html. I went to an interesting talk on the work they do and how the site came about. Strange thing is not a great deal of explosive testing took place on civilian explosions until the early 80s. Piper Alpha rig disaster was what triggered it. The research went into why the explosions propagated the way they did and how such explosions could be contained or diverted in future disasters in order to provide safe refuge for the rig workers. Their research led to both open space and diverted/segmented space investigations. an explosion traveling through an open space dissipates quite easily with very little force behind it. Put a few sections of 4" pipe and some bends and bracketry in there and the explosions increased in magnitude. The range is currently testing a new form of natural gas for use in homes which is alleged to be greener and the use of hydrogen gas for heating homes. there particular experience being in finding the risk factors involved in explosions within the domestic fuel supply network and within the home. From what i gleaned from the talk the last documented research was linked to the H bomb and the military use of explosives during the cold war.