Measurements of air contaminants during the Cerro Grande fire at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Eberhart, C.F.

doi:10.2172/991235

Cited by 2 publications

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“…These disturbances could include wind or even wildfires in the area. Concerns related to resuspension from fires have been documented including at Chernobyl (Evangeliou et al 2016), Los Alamos National Laboratory (Eberhart 2010), and the Savannah River Site (Viner et al 2018) to name a few (Paatero et al 2009). The magnitude of the resuspended activity is of concern due to the direct correlation with potential public intakes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a rapid, conservative transuranic alpha activity estimation method in air samples

Cope

Hayes

2019

J. Radiol. Prot.

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In air filter assay for radiological emergency response, radon (222Rn) and thoron (220Rn) progeny are known interferents to transuranic activity estimation. Previous work detailed a conservative, graded approach for TRU alpha activity estimation from air samples void of transuranic activity yet containing varying amounts of radon and thoron progeny. Validation of this method to produce rapid, conservative and defensible transuranic alpha activity estimates was accomplished through introduction of surrogate transuranic activity, 239Pu and 230Th check sources, along with the naturally occurring radioactive progeny from an environmental air filter. Following air collection, the filter was centre hole-punched with the transuranic check source placed underneath the filter during counting. With the surrogate transuranic activity introduced into the measurement, verification of the previously studied methodology for rapid transuranic activity estimation was determined with quantifiable conservative bias. 70 environmental filters with various levels of radon progeny and air sampling duration were collected; 35 examined with the 239Pu check source and 35 studied with the 230Th check source. To characterise the expected transuranic activity introduced to the counting experiment without the environmental interferents of radon and thoron progeny, 30 blank filters were counted using the described experimental setup with each of the respective surrogate sources. Following characterisation of the sources with blank filters, transuranic activity estimation comparison against the 70 environmental filters with natural background radioactive progeny interferents was accomplished. This work contributes to the comprehensive analysis of operational air samples by detailing validation results for a rapid and conservative transuranic alpha activity estimation methodology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a rapid, conservative transuranic alpha activity estimation method in air samples

Cope

Hayes

2019

J. Radiol. Prot.

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“…In addition to causing respiratory distress, the particulate matter in the smoke contains other constituents including naturally occurring radioactive materials, such as uranium, thorium and associated decay products as well as radionuclides from global fallout (Reinhardt et al 2004;Hao et al 2008;Eberhart 2010;Breshears et al 2012). However, there was particular public concern that wildfires on LANL properties containing low-levels of man-made radioactive materials could result in increased air concentrations and offsite transport of LANL-generated radionuclides (Whicker et al 2002, 2006a andb;Eberhart 2010). Thus, extensive efforts were made during the fire to sample the local and regional air for a suite of radionuclides, including 239 Pu, in the event that the fire might expand into LANL property.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operational Experience of Continuous Air Monitoring of Smoke for 239Pu during a Wildfire

Whicker

Baltz²,

Eisele³

et al. 2012

Health Physics

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Smoke from a wildfire in northern New Mexico that moved along the border of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was monitored for ²³⁹Pu in the event that the fire might cross into LANL property containing locations with low, but greater than background, levels of ²³⁹Pu and other alpha-emitting radionuclides. Three Environmental Continuous Air Monitors (ECAMs) in operation at LANL at the time of the fire provided near real-time measurements of the ²³⁹Pu in the smoke. Sampling data from routine measurements of PM-10 and PM-2.5 concentrations in the city of Los Alamos showed that smoke in the air rose during the fire to several hundred μg m⁻³, which produced limited visibility (several hundred meters) and resulted in poor air quality alerts for about a week-long period. Previous studies have shown that airborne dust can significantly impair continuous air monitors, so the purpose of this study was to assess the performance of the ECAMs under smoky conditions, which is important for many emergency response scenarios. Additionally, ECAMs are not required to be tested in smoke by ANSI standards, so there is little to no published data on performance of any ECAM while sampling smoke. Results show that the deployed ECAMs had reduced flow as the filter clogged with fine particles, but the goodness-of-fit parameter of the peak shape fitting algorithms and the minimum detectable concentration and dose were not impacted until the flow was reduced by more than about 20%, and even then they were within tolerable limits. Overall, ECAM performance was not impacted during the fire even under heavy smoke conditions and fluctuating radon levels, though changing the filters to limit any reductions in flow to less than 20% would maintain optimal ECAM performance.

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Measurements of air contaminants during the Cerro Grande fire at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Validation of a rapid, conservative transuranic alpha activity estimation method in air samples

Validation of a rapid, conservative transuranic alpha activity estimation method in air samples

Operational Experience of Continuous Air Monitoring of Smoke for 239Pu during a Wildfire

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