Cleansing of the atmosphere: smoke removal under natural and perturbed conditions

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1987 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5884276

Hallett, J

The overall cleansing of the atmosphere can be related to the efficiency of the precipitation system, which is small for individual cumulus clouds (O), intermediate for air mass thunderstorms (20%), and larger for a steady-state system such as a supercell or a depression (70%). Air processed by the storm is cleaned of its aerosol loading, depending on the detail of the microphysical process. It follows that in any disaster scenario whereby large amounts of smoke are emitted into the troposphere - volcanic eruption, comet impact, nuclear exchange fires - the immediate cloud forming and precipitation processes are of major importance in determining the scavenging rate and overall scavenging efficiency. Even in the unpolluted atmosphere, removal by any precipitation process depends critically on the likelihood of the aerosol containing air passing into a suitable precipitation system. In the case of Chernobyl, with iodine-activated soot, its removals is more likely as it passes into an ice-forming precipitation system, to be removed directly by ice nucleation. In the present atmosphere, statistics of parcel trajectory can give a mean removal rate; in the case of the perturbed atmosphere, major uncertainties remain on the nature and scale of the initial circulations.

• OSTI ID: 5884276
• Report Number(s): CONF-871101-
• Journal Information: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 55; Conference: Joint meeting of the American Nuclear Society and the Atomic Industrial Forum, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 15-19 Nov 1987
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
PARTICULATES
REMOVAL
AEROSOLS
CHERNOBYLSK-4 REACTOR
COMBUSTION
DIFFUSION
EFFICIENCY
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
SMOKES
ACCIDENTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
LWGR TYPE REACTORS
OXIDATION
PARTICLES
POWER REACTORS
REACTORS
RESIDUES
SOLS
THERMAL REACTORS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
450202* - Explosions & Explosives- Nuclear- Weaponry- (-1989)