Hazardous releases

The modelling of hazardous releases, such as a liquid spill, catastrophic failure of a tank or rupture of a pipeline, is required both for assessment of potential emergency situations or for modelling real events. Toxic or flammable substances, such as ammonia, chlorine and Liquid Natural Gas (LNG), often need to be considered.

Assessments may be required by regulators such as the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) assessments.

Scenarios can be complex, requiring investigation of emission characteristics and dispersion pathways under different meteorological conditions.

Depending on the nature of the release, our consultants apply our industrial pollution model ADMS and/or our dense gas model GASTAR to the assessment. If the initial source of the release is a liquid spill, we may apply our model LSMS to determine emission rates to air.

We typically compare model outputs with a range of threshold values, such as toxic loads (doses), exposure limits and flammability levels.

We also use ADMS to assess the likely impacts of uncontrolled combustion, such as waste or warehouse fires, or emergency flaring.

CERC has worked behind the scenes on several recent high-profile legal cases. We can provide expert advice and Expert Witness services to support our findings.