Atmospheric release advisory capability: Real-time modeling of airborne hazardous materials

Journal Article · Wed Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1993)074<2343:ARACRT>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:5028210

Sullivan, T J; Ellis, J S; Foster, C S; Foster, K T ^[1]; Baskett, R L; Nasstrom, J S; Schalk, III, W W ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
2. EG G Energy Measurements Inc., Pleasanton, CA (United States)

The Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (ARAC) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. is a centralized federal project for assessing atmospheric releases of hazardous materials in real time. Since ARAC began making assessments in 1974, the project has responded to over 60 domestic and international incidents. ARAC can model radiological accidents in the US within 30 to 90 min., using its operationally robust, three-dimensional atmospheric transport and dispersion models, extensive geophysical and dose-factor databases, meteorological data acquisition systems, and experienced staff. Although it was originally conceived and developed as an emergency response and assessment service for providing dose-assessment calculations after nuclear accidents, it has proven to be an extremely adaptable system, capable of being modified to respond also to nonradiological hazardous releases. In 1991, ARAC responded to three major events: The oil fires in Kuwait, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, and an herbicide spill into the upper Sacramento River in California. Modeling the atmospheric effects of these events added significantly to the range of problems that ARAC can address and demonstrated that the system can be adapted to assess and respond to concurrent, multiple, unrelated events at different locations. 44 refs., 17 figs., 3 tabs.

• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5028210
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society; (United States), Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society; (United States) Vol. 74:12; ISSN 0003-0007; ISSN BAMIAT
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
540130 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
ACCIDENTS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CLOUDS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SPILLS
METEOROLOGY
OIL SPILLS
RADIOACTIVE CLOUDS
RISK ASSESSMENT
SIMULATION
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS