Temporary shelter-in-place as protection against a release of airborne hazardous material : report of a literature search.

''Temporary shelter-in place'' is the combination of prompt shelter-in-place (SIP) to minimize initial exposure to airborne hazardous material, followed by timely action to terminate this protection to minimize exposure to hazardous vapor accumulations in the shelter once the air outside becomes less hazardous than the air inside the shelter. Temporary SIP, if properly executed, is considered to be an effective way to protect populations from hazardous chemical vapors, especially from high concentrations for short periods. This is supported by laboratory and field experiments. The need for timely termination of temporary SIP as protection from infiltrated vapors is an integral component of a temporary SIP strategy. It was from this premise that Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) was asked to develop methodologies for deciding when and how to terminate SIP. These methodologies, in turn, could be the basis for site-specific operational guidelines (e.g., decision matrix, decision-tree, or algorithm) for terminating SIP on each of the eight Army chemical stockpile storage sites, and in the off-post communities surrounding them. This project consists of two tasks. Task 1 was to collect and analyze existing literature that might be relevant to the termination of temporary SIP. This report is the product of Task 1. Task 2, which will begin on 2 February 2001, will use the results of the literature search as the baseline to investigate the concepts associated with temporary SIP, and to develop methodologies for termination of temporary SIP that can be incorporated in site-specific operational guidelines. It is understood that these methods will be consistent with Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) policy that ''the most important objective of the emergency preparedness and implementation process is the avoidance of fatalities to the maximum extent practicable, should an accidental release of chemical agent occur.'' It is also anticipated that these methods will be consistent with approved dispersion models and compatible with the approved emergency management information systems and alert and notification protocols