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Title: Modeling shelter-in-place including sorption on indoor surfaces

Abstract

Intentional or accidental large-scale airborne toxic releases (e.g. terrorist attacks or industrial accidents) can cause severe harm to nearby communities. As part of an emergency response plan, shelter-in-place (SIP) can be an effective response option, especially when evacuation is infeasible. Reasonably tight building envelopes provide some protection against exposure to peak concentrations when toxic release passes over an area. They also provide some protection in terms of cumulative exposure, if SIP is terminated promptly after the outdoor plume has passed. The purpose of this work is to quantify the level of protection offered by existing houses, and the importance of sorption/desorption to and from surfaces on the effectiveness of SIP. We examined a hypothetical chlorine gas release scenario simulated by the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC). We used a standard infiltration model to calculate the distribution of time dependent infiltration rates within each census tract. Large variation in the air tightness of dwellings makes some houses more protective than others. Considering only the median air tightness, model results showed that if sheltered indoors, the total population intake of non-sorbing toxic gas is only 50% of the outdoor level 4 hours from the start of the release. Based on amore » sorption/desorption model by Karlsson and Huber (1996), we calculated that the sorption process would further lower the total intake of the population by an additional 50%. The potential benefit of SIP can be considerably higher if the comparison is made in terms of health effects because of the non-linear acute effect dose-response curve of many chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial substances.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE. Administrator for National Nuclear Security Administration Nonproliferation and National Security Program Direction (US)
OSTI Identifier:
819485
Report Number(s):
LBNL-53987
R&D Project: 470912; TRN: US200323%%305
DOE Contract Number:  
AC03-76SF00098
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: 84th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA (US), 01/11/2004--01/14/2004; Other Information: PBD: 1 Nov 2003
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; 45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE; AIR; CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS; CHLORINE; COMMUNITIES; DISTRIBUTION; INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS; PLUMES; SIMULATION; SORPTION

Citation Formats

Chan, Wanyu R, Price, Phillip N, Gadgil, Ashok J, Nazaroff, William W, Loosmore, Gwen A, and Sugiyama, Gayle A. Modeling shelter-in-place including sorption on indoor surfaces. United States: N. p., 2003. Web.
Chan, Wanyu R, Price, Phillip N, Gadgil, Ashok J, Nazaroff, William W, Loosmore, Gwen A, & Sugiyama, Gayle A. Modeling shelter-in-place including sorption on indoor surfaces. United States.
Chan, Wanyu R, Price, Phillip N, Gadgil, Ashok J, Nazaroff, William W, Loosmore, Gwen A, and Sugiyama, Gayle A. 2003. "Modeling shelter-in-place including sorption on indoor surfaces". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/819485.
@article{osti_819485,
title = {Modeling shelter-in-place including sorption on indoor surfaces},
author = {Chan, Wanyu R and Price, Phillip N and Gadgil, Ashok J and Nazaroff, William W and Loosmore, Gwen A and Sugiyama, Gayle A},
abstractNote = {Intentional or accidental large-scale airborne toxic releases (e.g. terrorist attacks or industrial accidents) can cause severe harm to nearby communities. As part of an emergency response plan, shelter-in-place (SIP) can be an effective response option, especially when evacuation is infeasible. Reasonably tight building envelopes provide some protection against exposure to peak concentrations when toxic release passes over an area. They also provide some protection in terms of cumulative exposure, if SIP is terminated promptly after the outdoor plume has passed. The purpose of this work is to quantify the level of protection offered by existing houses, and the importance of sorption/desorption to and from surfaces on the effectiveness of SIP. We examined a hypothetical chlorine gas release scenario simulated by the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC). We used a standard infiltration model to calculate the distribution of time dependent infiltration rates within each census tract. Large variation in the air tightness of dwellings makes some houses more protective than others. Considering only the median air tightness, model results showed that if sheltered indoors, the total population intake of non-sorbing toxic gas is only 50% of the outdoor level 4 hours from the start of the release. Based on a sorption/desorption model by Karlsson and Huber (1996), we calculated that the sorption process would further lower the total intake of the population by an additional 50%. The potential benefit of SIP can be considerably higher if the comparison is made in terms of health effects because of the non-linear acute effect dose-response curve of many chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial substances.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/819485}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 2003},
month = {Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 2003}
}

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