Editing Bank vault (section)

==Design==
[[File:Vault of a retail bank under demolition.tiff|thumb|200px|Vault of a retail bank under demolition]]
Bank vaults are custom-designed and are usually one of the first elements considered when planning a new bank building. The vault manufacturer works with the bank to determine specifications like size, shape, and security features. Modern vaults are typically constructed using steel-reinforced modular concrete panels engineered for maximum strength and crush resistance. A 3-inch thick panel of specialized concrete can be up to 10 times stronger than an 18-inch panel of standard concrete.

Bank vaults are typically made with steel-reinforced concrete. This material was not substantially different from that used in construction work. It relies on its immense thickness for strength. An ordinary vault from the middle of the 20th century might have been 18 in (45.72&nbsp;cm) thick and was quite heavy and difficult to remove or remodel around. Modern bank vaults are now typically made of modular concrete panels using a special proprietary blend of concrete and additives for extreme strength. The concrete has been engineered for maximum crush resistance. A panel of this material, though only 3 in (7.62&nbsp;cm) thick, may be up to 10 times as strong as an 18 in-thick (45.72-cm) panel of regular formula concreted.

There are at least two public examples of vaults withstanding a nuclear blast.  The most famous is the Teikoku Bank in [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima]] whose two [[Mosler Safe Company]] vaults survived the atomic blast with all contents intact.  The bank manager wrote a congratulatory note to Mosler.<ref>{{cite web|title=Letters of Note: Your Products are Stronger than the Atomic Bomb | date=16 September 2010 | url=http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/09/safe.html |access-date=16 September 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100919151038/http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/09/safe.html| archive-date= 19 September 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Unbreakable: Hiroshima and the Mosler Safe Company |date=26 August 2010 |url=http://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/08/unbreakable-hiroshima-and-mosler-safe.html |publisher=CONELRAD Adjacent |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813222916/http://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/08/unbreakable-hiroshima-and-mosler-safe.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A second is a vault at the [[Nevada National Security Site]] (formerly the Nevada Test Site) in which an above ground Mosler vault was one of many structures specifically constructed to be exposed to an atomic blast in Operation Plumb Bob - Project 30.4:[https://books.google.com/books?id=kDOLHBMgByAC Response of Protective Vaults to Blast Loading].<ref>{{cite journal|title=A Nuclear Family Vacation| journal=Slate | date=11 July 2005 | url=http://www.slate.com/id/2122382/entry/2122387/ |publisher=Slate Magazine |access-date=11 July 2005| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050713012637/http://www.slate.com/id/2122382/entry/2122387/| archive-date= 13 July 2005 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Slate's Well-Traveled: A Nuclear Family Vacation|newspaper=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4755708|publisher=NPR|access-date=15 July 2005|archive-date=6 August 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050806073311/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4755708|url-status=live}}</ref>