This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Being prepared for an emergency is key to keeping people safe. This means more than just having supplies such as food, water and first-aid kits.
Sometimes, the most important preparation is having the right data to help first responders and the community stay safe. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are helping fill the information gap on how dangerous dust particles from a radiological event may be resuspended in the air and spread. A radiological event occurs when radioactive material is released into the environment.
Through field experiments, Argonne researchers studied the resuspension, or movement, of dust particles from concrete surfaces during a simulated radiological contamination scenario. They measured how people walking and cars driving affected the spread of the particles. The research has been published in Health Physics.
The resuspension of hazardous particles from the ground poses significant risks during chemical, radiological and biological contamination scenarios. Once the particles are kicked back up into the air, they can be inhaled. This raises the risk of exposure and complicates cleanup efforts.
Accurate modeling of resuspension helps develop contamination control strategies, guide emergency response and keep people safe. Older computer models underestimate the number of particles picked up into the air because of people and vehicle activity. The models do not accurately predict resuspension factors.
A resuspension factor is the amount of dangerous material in the air compared with the amount on the ground. "We started to recognize that the radiation exposure models didn't handle the dust that is thrown back up in the air very well," said Mike Kaminski, Argonne senior nuclear chemical engineer and co-author of the paper. "There wasn't any guidance on how to run that part of the model correctly, so we started looking into it." To fill these gaps, the researchers conducted first-of-a-kind field experiments.
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