Aircrew ionizing doses from radioactive dust cloud generated by nuclear burst. Master's thesis

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6375243

Hickman, B E

This report will evaluate the threat of radioactive fallout to which aircrew members will be exposed when flying through a descending fallout cloud. A computer program is developed for calculating the ionizing dose rate of a radioactive dust cloud as a function of time, and also the dose that an aircrew receives when flying through the respective cloud. A cloud model that is patterned after the AFIT fallout smearing code was developed. A comparison is made between the activities at various altitudes from 305 meters to 9150 meters to provide information for possible re-direction of flight. The external ionizing dose to the aircrew is computed by the new code considering the cloud size, the aircraft's transit time through the cloud, and the ingestion rate of radioactive particles into the aircraft's cabin. Information is also provided to indicate the method by which doses can be computed from a cloud of multiple bursts. The results demonstrate that total dose to each aircrew member is approximately 8 rems after flying through a fallout cloud one hour after cloud stabilization of a 1 Mt burst, with the mission continuing for eight hours subsequent to the cloud transit.

• Research Organization: Air Force Inst. of Tech., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (USA). School of Engineering
• OSTI ID: 6375243
• Report Number(s): AD-A-115541/5; AFIT/GNE/PH-82M-9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560151* -- Radiation Effects on Animals-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AEROSOLS
AIRCRAFT
ALTITUDE
AVIATION PERSONNEL
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
DOSE RATES
DOSES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPLOSIONS
FALLOUT
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
PERSONNEL
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIATIONS
RADIOACTIVE AEROSOLS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SOLS
TIME DEPENDENCE
VELOCITY
VULNERABILITY