Homeland Security Emergency Report

Date: 12:45 p.m., March 1, 2013 An explosion has occurred in downtown Kansas City, MO at 11:30 A.M. near Columbus Park Industrial. The explosion has demolished several buildings in a one block area (radius of 500 ft/150 m) and damaged the Hwy 71 bridge crossing the Missouri river. Dust and debris from the explosion has been reported as far as 5000 ft/1500 m from the blast site (Figure 1). One block away from ground zero, railroad cars have been knocked over, leaking, with some in flames. At least one of these railroad cars was loaded with phosgene headed for a company in the industrial park. A fly over has confirmed that six yard workers near the pump/docking station are down. A two story storage tank at a plastics industry plant two blocks away from the center of the blast has been compromised and is rapidly leaking bisphenol A, a common feedstock for a plastic.
Affected Area:

Columbus Park Industrial is home to several companies: Citigroup, Cooper Cameron, The Kroger Company, Mettler Toledo, Zimmer Holdings, Ferguson Enterprises, W.W. Grainger, Exide Technologies, Kraft Foods, UPS, Northrop Grumman, TRW, Limited Brands, Guardian Industries, and CSX. Of these, Exide Technologies is a major battery manufacturer. River Market area has most of the downtown tourist attractions, which may be frequented by the attendees of the Big 12 Mens and Womens Championships at the Spirit Center. Estimated Affected Population: 500,000

Intelligence received from the FBI reports that Al Qaeda operatives captured in Canada last month had plans indicating a tractor trailer filled with fertilizer and radioactive contaminants such as strontium-90 and cesium-137 would be used as a dirty bomb. Intelligence also found a list of possible sources for radioactive material summarized in Table 1. Included in the plans was a list of several other toxic compounds (Table 2) that could also be added to the explosive device. Evidence indicated this explosion would be most effective in large Midwestern city, near other factories, a water source, transportation centers, and large dense populations.
You have been appointed to a scientific task force which will advise the President on an appropriate response. Your report to the President should cover the following points: Problem Formulation Exposure Effects Management Communication

Table 1 Sources of radioactive material: Source Electric generator from a Russian lighthouse Radiotherapy machine (total of ten units identified) 500 kg spent nuclear fuel Radioactive nuclides Sr-90 Cs-137 Sr-90 (1.5%) Cs-137 (1.5%) U-238 (96%) Pu-239 (1%) Po-210 Radioactivity 400,000 Curies 1400 Curies/ unit 1,000,000 Curies 650,000 Curies 1.5e-4 Curies 0.31 Curies 2700 Curies

100 g Po-210 from Antistatic devices

Table 2 List of toxins found with captured operatives:

Plague Botulinum toxin VX Sarin Anthrax

Figure 1. Area of Kansas City affected by the blast. Circles indicate radius of blast effect: Red = 500 ft /150 m, Yellow = 2500 ft /750 m, Green = 5000 ft /1500 m

Spirit Center Big 12 Tournament

As an expert in physics, here are just a few questions that you might consider: 1. What are the possible types of radiation? 2. How long should the radiation be expected to persist? 3. How will the radiation levels compare to the background radiation level? (What are the sources of background radiation?) 4. How is radioactive material most likely to spread? 5. What are steps for possible remediation? Some links with information to help you get started:
Radiation Terms Background Radiation Types of Radiation Half-Life Sound Science