Objective
Industrial plants, transport systems, etc., are regularly assessed with respect to the risk posed to nearby inhabitants due to accidents which involve the release of toxic chemicals.
The objective of this proposal is to develop and assess methodologies to determine the acute toxicity through inhalation of a number of hazardous substances for fluctuating concentration exposure and lethal and non-lethal damage.
This is relevant because of the concentration fluctuations in any cloud in the atmosphere. This means that in real life during accidental releases exposure may occur during short to very short time periods, separated by periods of zero concentration.
With respect to the toxic impact there is little knowledge about effects of exposure during extreme short periods.
Toxicity data, e.g. as used in the Probit-functions, is generally based on exposure averaged over at least 10 minutes, whereas the relevant timescales of concentration fluctuations can be of the order of a minute or less.
This proposal wants to address this problem by analysing working mechanisms of very acute acting toxic substances, by analysis of some experimental data and by attempting to provide model descriptions of the physical and chemical processes involved in the toxic impact through inhalation. The result will be concentration-time-effect relationships for a number of toxic substances and guidelines on the relevant timescales to be considered in quantitative risk assessment
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
7300 AH Apeldoorn
Netherlands