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Evaluation of Atmospheric Conditions Leading to a Fumigation Event

Journal Article · · Health Physics
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
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During the afternoon of 30 January 2022, the Savannah River Site experienced unusual temperature conditions leading to a fumigation event that triggered safety alarms and caused considerable confusion about the cause of the event. Normally, it is assumed that fumigation events occur early in the day once surface heating has begun. While most fumigation events are related to the breakup of a nocturnal inversion, this event was related to synoptic atmospheric conditions, which provided a more unique scenario that led to the fumigation event. The unusual synoptic atmospheric conditions led to the downwash and fumigation of the elevated plume, causing a pollutant to mix rapidly to the surface. These conditions could have potentially harmed workers within the facility, since the plume was directed toward a building air intake system. Here, we seek to outline the conditions that led to this unusual fumigation event and provide results of two-dimensional (2D) wind modeling of the event to characterize these conditions for future operational guidance of the facility air intake systems. This work sets the groundwork for future high-resolution modeling to explore the mechanisms and thresholds affecting fumigation on the facility-specific short distance scales and improve forecasting of non-standard fumigation events to protect human health.
Research Organization:
Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
Grant/Contract Number:
89303321CEM000080
OSTI ID:
2998480
Report Number(s):
SRNL--STI-2023-00029
Journal Information:
Health Physics, Journal Name: Health Physics Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 125; ISSN 1538-5159; ISSN 0017-9078
Publisher:
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (5)

A Study on Plume Dispersion Characteristics of Two Discrete Plume Stacks for Negative Temperature Gradient Conditions journal February 2021
On the Evaluation of the Mixing Layer During Elevated Plume Fumigation journal December 1983
Evaluation of a revised AERMOD treatment of plume dispersion in the daytime elevated stable layer journal August 2022
Identify the contribution of elevated industrial plume to ground air quality by optical and machine learning methods journal February 2020
Some Restrictive Meteorological Conditions to be Considered in the Design of Stacks journal September 1962

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
Atmospheric Dispersion
Building Downwash
CFD Modeling
Fumigation
accident analysis
emissions
atmospheric
modeling
meteorological
tritium