Temperature inversions in the vicinity of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as characterized by tethersonde data

Accidental releases of hazardous materials to the atmosphere may result from fires that create a buoyant plume which may rise several hundred meters above the ground. For such buoyant release cases, estimates of ground-level concentrations may be as much as a factor of 100 lower than similar, nonbuoyant releases. For the Oak Ridge Reservation, safety analyses often examine buoyant release accident scenarios and resulting downwind, ground-level consequence estimates. For these analyses, careful consideration of buoyant plume rise is important. Plume rise can be limited by a stable vertical atmospheric temperature profile, commonly called an inversion, where the air temperature increases with height. There is a concern that inversions may interact with the complex terrain on the Oak Ridge Reservation, particularly at the Y-12 Plant, which is located in a relatively shallow but narrow valley, to trap the plume and increase ground-level consequences. The purpose of this paper is to review the available meteorological data that provide information on inversions in the Oak Ridge area