Research Demonstrates That Air Data Can Be Used to Reconstruct Radiological Releases

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http://www.sciencenewsline.com/summary/2016022916520034.html
New research from North Carolina State University demonstrates that experts can use data from air sampling technology to not only detect radiological releases, but to accurately quantify the magnitude and source of the release. This has applications for nuclear plant safety, as well as national security and nuclear nonproliferation monitoring.

"This is something we knew was theoretically possible, but this is - as far as I know - the first time anyone has demonstrated the technology's ability to reconstruct a release based on off-site air samples," says Robert Hayes, an associate professor of nuclear engineering at NC State and the author of a paper on the work.

The research was made possible due to an unfortunate incident in 2014. In February of that year, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) - a nuclear facility in New Mexico - had an event in an underground storage area. A 55-gallon drum of nuclear waste, which had been improperly packaged, effectively exploded. This released at least two Curies of radioactivity in the underground storage area. This was enough to shut the facility down for recovery, but very little radioactivity - a few milliCuries - escaped into the environment.