Title: Downwind chlorine hazard estimates for the 2015-2016 Jack Rabbit II campaign

Authors: Nathan Platt; Kevin Luong; Jeffry T. Urban

Addresses: Institute for Defense Analyses, 4850 Mark Center Drive, Alexandria, VA 22311-1882, USA ' Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA ' Institute for Defense Analyses, 4850 Mark Center Drive, Alexandria, VA 22311-1882, USA

Abstract: We present estimates of the downwind inhalation health hazard to humans arising from large-scale releases of pressurised liquefied chlorine based on data from the Jack Rabbit II chlorine dispersion field campaign. For chlorine releases in the range of 7 to 9 metric tons, lethal, severe, and mild health effects are expected up to 1 km, between 2 and 5 km, and more than 11 km downwind from the release, respectively. The AEGL-3, AEGL-2, and AEGL-1 acute inhalation hazard thresholds are expected to be exceeded between 2 and 5 km, up to 11 km, and beyond 11 km downwind from the release, respectively. Since these hazard distance estimates are based on chlorine concentrations that were directly measured (i.e., not modelled), their accuracy depends only on the quality of the health effects models, and not on the quality of any atmospheric transport and dispersion model or container release (chemical source term) model.

Keywords: chlorine exposure health effects; toxic industrial chemicals; Jack Rabbit II; toxic load model; acute exposure guideline levels; AEGLs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2018.099154

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2018 Vol.64 No.1/2/3, pp.145 - 160

Received: 24 Jan 2018
Accepted: 29 Sep 2018
Published online: 16 Apr 2019 *

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