Risk from a pressurized toxic gas system: Part 2, Dispersal consequences

During the preparation of a Safety Analysis Report at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we studied the release of chlorine from a compressed gas experimental apparatus. This paper presents the second part in a series of two papers on this topic. The first paper focuses on the frequency of an unmitigated release from the system; this paper discusses the consequences of the release. The release of chlorine from the experimental apparatus was modeled as an unmitigated blowdown through a 0.25 inch (0.0064 m) outside diameter tube. The physical properties of chlorine were considered as were the dynamics of the fluid flow problem. The calculated release rate was used as input for the consequence assessment. Downwind concentrations as a function of time were evaluated and then compared to suggested guidelines. For comparison purposes, a typical water treatment plant was briefly studied. The lower hazard presented by the LLNL operation becomes evident when its release is compared to the release of material from a water treatment plant, a hazard which is generally accepted by the public