title: Reconstruction of A Radiological Release Using Aerosol Sampling.
abstract: Reconstructing a radiological release using offsite air sampling is considered using measurements from the WIPP site event. Demonstration of the capabilities is shown using the HotSpot code as an example of the approach in general. The results show the empirical steps that could be folded into an iterative approach to back extrapolation of a radiological release from a nuclear facility. It is shown here that the limiting factor in detection is not counting statistics of the activity but rather the statistics for aerosols having small sample population numbers due to the lognormal distribution of particle radii.
authors.affiliation: *Nuclear Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, 2500 Stinson Drive, 2101 Burlington Laboratories, Raleigh, NC 27695-7809.
authors.forename: Robert Bruce
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Hayes
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009516:New Mexico; D010316:Particle Size; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011850:Radioactive Waste / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018401:Sample Size; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011868:Radioisotopes