The operation of a powerful source of optical radiation based on explosion of spherical HE charges in metal tubes filled with xenon was investigated. The velocity and radiative characteristics of the shock wave propagating through the tube were determined. It is shown that reflective coating of pipe walls makes it possible to increase the density of the energy flux by more than an order of magnitude as well as to improve the shape of its time dependence. A three-dimensional numerical simulation of the formation and propagation of a shock wave was performed, and a simplified method for estimating the radiation intensity was proposed.