Prototype for a Radiation Hard Upgrade to the ATLAS ZDC

Increases in luminosity and collision energy at the LHC challenge the radiation hardness of detectors located along the beamline. This problem is especially acute for the Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDCs) in ATLAS, which are exposed to around 10^{10} rad/yr, rendering the current version of the detector inviable during p+p running. To address this shortcoming and allow for important triggers and potential access to low-x physics, we designed a prototype detector that replaces quartz radiator material with a circulating, liquid hydrocarbon. It also features a dual-stage wavelength shifting scheme to transport light to silicon photo-multipliers, as well as both transverse and longitudinal segmentation to study the shower development in two dimensions. Design considerations, results from an SPS beam test and comparisons to GEANT simulation will be presented.