Drone-assisted measurements for improved dispersion modeling FY18 Status Update

Abstract

Dispersion analysis modeling from stack releases has historically relied heavily on either simplified assumptions that were developed from correlating historical smoke stack experiments, or from complex wind field modeling programs. The advent of drone assisted measurement technology and small portable sensors offers a tremendous opportunity to quantify and scale the assessment of essential parameters for dispersion analysis and therefore advance the state of atmospheric dispersion modeling that is a critical input to dose consequence estimates of potential releases from nuclear facilities. These modified site-specific dispersion and plume rise models can be incorporated into a version of MACCS2 that will directly improve the ability to estimate the potential consequence of radiological release from DOE facilities. The benefits include improvements in safety associated with reducing the level of conservative assumptions involved in estimating the consequence of hazardous material releases. The FY18 tasks documented in this report (see Appendix A) set the stage for drone measurements of High Flux Isotope Reactor stack release that are scheduled for FY19. The major activities documented in this report include the development of the instrumentation and the testing of the integration of this instrumentation and the drone platform.