The Importance of Particle Size in Estimating Downwind Contamination from an RDD

There is general agreement that realistic quantities of radiological material released from a radiological dispersal device (RDD) will not travel more than hundred meters at toxic levels. Of greater concern in the case of such an incident is the size of the area contaminated with radiological particles. Remediation of contaminated areas will require either removal of the deposited articles or disposal of the contaminated materials. Contours of expected contaminated areas have been presented which extend more than 10 miles downwind of the release location. It would be impossible to remediate such a large area, so the likely response will be to permanently seal most of it off from further use. Not only are these radiation contours below levels of concern, the particle size assumed is unreasonably low, especially when the density of radioactive materials is considered. Using of appropriate RDD characterization and range of particle size, this presentation will show that expected contamination areas should be small enough to make remediation feasible.(author)