Derivation of Effective Resuspension Factors in Scenarios for Inhalation Exposure Involving Resuspension of Previously Deposited Fallout by Nuclear Detonations at Nevada Test Site

This report presents an evaluation of inhalation doses in scenarios for exposure of military participants at atmospheric nuclear-weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site that involved unusually high resuspension of radionuclides in previously deposited fallout by the thermal pulse or blast (shock) wave produced in an above-ground detonation. The purpose of this evaluation was to determine values of a resuspension factor, defined as the ratio of the concentration of resuspended radionuclides in air above ground to the areal concentration on the ground surface, that should be assumed in those scenarios to ensure that point estimates of inhalation dose obtained in dose reconstruction would be credible upper bounds, i.e., at least upper 95% credibility limits.