Acetylene Explosion cont'd

DOE-HDBK-3010-94

7.0 Application Examples; Production Support Lab Example

only to the extent it limits the number of plutonium-bearing locations that are

affected. The explosion will not affect all of the laboratory sampling rooms, but even

if it did, the resulting release is not large. Liquid material inside gloveboxes will not

be significantly affected. The limited shielding provided by the gloveboxes will result

in the blast wave largely passing over the glovebox by the time penetration occurs.

As the duration of the pressure wave can be measured in fractions of a second, the

release can be considered bounded by treating all liquid in the blast zone as if it has

spilled. The ARF and RF for free-fall spill of liquids are 2 E-4 and 0.5 or 2E-5 and

1.0 (subsection 3.2.3.1) depending on the density of the solution. For this case, the

higher value is arbitrarily selected.

The phenomena of concern for powder is accelerated airflow parallel to the surface

for powders shielded from direct effects of the blast. However, in actuality, the small

hardened glass containers holding the solid samples may be largely unaffected outside

the immediate blast zone. Metals will be unaffected. Accordingly, all solids will be

conservatively considered to be powders, for which the ARF and RF are 5E-3 and 0.3

(subsection 4.4.2.2.2). Waste pails in the blast zone are assumed to experience

surface contamination shock-impact, for which the ARF and RF are 1E-3 and 1.0

(subsection 5.2.3.2). A waste pail in the immediate proximity of the blast may

release its contents, which may also burn as localized debris in the aftermath of the

explosion, for which the ARF and RF are 1E-2 and 1.0 for combustion of unpackaged

cellulosic waste (subsection 5.2.1.2). Only the waste pail in the atomic absorption

room is probably eligible for these effects, but a waste pail in each of the eight

labrooms will be considered affected for the purposes of obviously bounding potential

releases.

For the sake of simplicity, the MARs are the maximum listed in Table C-2,

"Production Support Lab Facility Hazard Identification." The blast release effects

identified above are applied to all of the material in the lab rooms for a conservative

initial screen to estimate a source term of:

Liquid

560 g * 1.0 * 2E-4 * 0.5

= 0.06 g

Powder

550 g * 1.0 * 5E-3 * 0.3

= 0.8 g

Waste

160 g * 1.0 * 1E-3 * 1.0

= 0.16 g

Waste

160 g * 1.0 * 1E-2 * 1.0

= 1.6 g

Total

2.6 g

Even with the use of ridiculously conservative assumptions, the release estimated is

very small for a low probability, severe phenomena event.

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