RSICC Home Page HOTSPOT 3.0.2

RSICC CODE PACKAGE MIS-009

1.         NAME AND TITLE

HOTSPOT 3.0.2:  Health Physics Code System for Evaluating Accidents Involving Radioactive Materials.

2.         CONTRIBUTORS

National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA, USA.

3.         CODING LANGUAGE AND COMPUTER

BASIC; PC (M009IBMPC03).

4.         NATURE OF PROBLEM SOLVED

The HOTSPOT Health Physics codes were created to provide Health Physics personnel with a fast, field-portable calculational tool for evaluating accidents involving radioactive materials. HOTSPOT codes provide a first-order approximation of the radiation effects associated with the atmospheric release of radioactive materials. The developer's website is: http://www.llnl.gov/nhi/hotspot/.

Four general programs, PLUME, EXPLOSION, FIRE, and RESUSPENSION, calculate a downwind assessment following the release of radioactive material resulting from a continuous or puff release, explosive release, fuel fire, or an area contamination event. Additional programs deal specifically with the release of plutonium, uranium, and tritium to expedite an initial assessment of accidents involving nuclear weapons. The FIDLER program can calibrate radiation survey instruments for ground survey measurements and initial screening of personnel for possible plutonium uptake in the lung.

The HOTSPOT codes are fast, portable, easy to use, and fully documented in electronic help files. HOTSPOT supports color high resolution monitors and printers for concentration plots and contours. The codes have been extensively used by the DOS community since 1985. Tables and graphical output can be directed to the computer screen, printer, or a disk file. The graphical output consists of dose and ground contamination as a function of plume centerline downwind distance, and radiation dose and ground contamination contours. Users have the option of displaying scenario text on the plots.

HOTSPOT 3.0.1 fixes three significant Windows 7 issues:

 

·         Executable installed properly under "Program Files/HotSpot 3.0". Installation package now smaller: removed dependency on older Windows DLL files which previously needed to \

·         Forms now properly scale based on DPI instead of font for users who change their screen resolution to something other than 100%. This is a more common feature in Windows 7.

·         Windows installer was starting everytime most users started the program, even after HotSpot was already installed. Now, after the program is installed the installer may come up once for each new user but only the first time they run HotSpot on a particular machine. So no user should see the installer come up more than once over many uses.

 

GPS capability updated to directly use a serial port through a USB connection. Non-USB connections should still work. Fixed table output inconsistencies for fire scenarios.

5.         METHOD OF SOLUTION

HOTSPOT is a hybrid of the well-established Gaussian Plume Model, widely used for initial emergency assessment or safety analysis planning of a radionuclide release. Virtual source terms are used to model the initial atmospheric distribution of source material following a explosion, fire, resuspension, or user-input geometry.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 30 Respiratory Tract and ICRP 30 Part IV Systemic models are the basis for the Dose Conversion Factors (DCF). A one micrometer AMAD is assumed. ICRP 26/30 Tissue Weighting Factors are used for the 50-year Committed Effective Dose Equivalent DCF values. HOTSPOT supports both classic units (rem, rad, curie) and SI (Sv, Gy, Bq) units.

HOTSPOT incorporates Federal Guidance Reports 11, 12 and 13 (FGR-11, FGR-12, FGR-13) Dose Conversion Factors for inhalation, submersion, and ground shine. In addition to the inhalation 50-year Committed Effective Dose Equivalent DCFs, acute (24-hour) DCFs are available for estimating non-stochastic effects. This acute model can be used for estimating the immediate radiological impact associated with high acute radiation doses (applicable target organs are the lung, small intestine, wall, and red bone marrow). Users can add radionuclides and custom mixtures (up to 50 radionuclides per mixture).

6.         RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS

The HotSpot atmospheric dispersion models are designed for near-surface releases, short-range (less than 10 km) dispersion, and short-term (less than 24 hours) release durations in unobstructed terrain and simple meteorological conditions.

7.         TYPICAL RUNNING TIME

Interactive.

8.         COMPUTER HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

IBM compatible personal computers.

9.         COMPUTER SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

Windows OS.

10.        REFERENCES

S. G. Homann, Fernando Aluzzi “HOTSPOT Health Physics Codes Version 3.0 User’s Guide,” National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, LLNL-SM-636474 (May 2013).

 11.       CONTENTS OF CODE PACKAGE

Included on the CD are the referenced document and a self-extracting compressed Windows file containing PC executables and sample case input and output. 

12.        DATE OF ABSTRACT

July 2013, November 2013.

KEYWORDS:       GAUSSIAN PLUME MODEL, RADIOACTIVITY RELEASE, REACTOR ACCIDENT, AIRBORNE, INTERNAL DOSE, RADIOLOGICAL SAFETY, NUCLIDE TRANSPORT